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* 


TWO HEMISPHERES 


Vh 

Jt % o m it it t c. 


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FROM THE GERMAN OF OTTO RTJPIUS. 

w A 


\ 


BY 

C. L. W. 



/ 

PHILADELPHIA: 

CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER, 

819 and €21 Market Street. 

1870 . 


^ K <b* 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 
CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER, 

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 


STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN & SON. 


PRINTED BY MOORE BROS. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

An Adventure in the Alps 13 

CHAPTER II. 

A Second Meeting, and what came of it 35 

CHAPTER III. 

In a German Family 55 

CHAPTER IV. 

In an American Family 77 

CHAPTER V. 

In the New Life 99 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Disappointment 120 

xi 


Xii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

Meeting Again 136 

CHAPTER VIII. 

In Germany 166 

CHAPTER IX. 

Resolutions 189 


CHAPTER X. 


Heart-Trials — Return — Conclusion. 


221 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


i. 

AN ADVENTURE IN THE ALPS. 

I T was midday when, by the steep and uneven path, he 
reached the end of the wood, and cast his first free 
glance upon a group of travellers and mules, which had 
halted on its way down the mountain, as if waiting for 
some one. A slender old man with a carefully shaven 
face was in lively conversation with two guides, pointing 
now to one side, now to the other, of the rugged moun- 
tain, while a younger man seemed to be observing from 
his mule the gestures of the guides. Scarcely had the 
ascending traveller come in sight, when the old man 
turned hastily from the company and strode toward him. 

“Have you met any one at all on your way up?” he 
asked, slightly moving his hat, and his eye seemed to 
await the reply eagerly. 

“ Not since I left the village at the foot of the moun- 
tain ! ” readily answered the one addressed, and, with a 
restless shake of his head, the inquirer turned back to his 
companions. 


14 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


“ It is then just as I said,” now spoke in English the 
voice of the rider, while an evident expression of vexa- 
tion showed itself in his rigid countenance, which a thin 
beard surrounded ; “ she wants to surprise us again. Miss 
has found her own way down, and now at the most shrugs 
her shoulders at our anxiety.” 

The elder man turned hesitatingly to his mule ; and his 
informant, who now seemed to have no further existence 
for the riders, passed the group with a light knitting of 
his brow. 

“ The unmannerliness of these English ! ” he growled ; 
though presently a look of humor passed over his face. 
“ I should like to see the mighty arrogance of this ‘ Miss/ 
who repulses all their care with a shrug of her shoulders I ” 

Smiling quietly to himself, he seemed to pursue the 
thought, until he reached a height where his gaze fell 
upon the green vale of Cliamouni, which he had left, and 
the wild Alpine range, its peaks full of eternal snow and 
gleaming with ice. Then he rested awhile, and let his 
eye rove over the scene. 

“ All that’s bright must fade ! ” he quoted, “must fade — 
and my brief pleasures only too quickly ! ” he continued, 
with a half sigh. “ Homeward again to-morrow to the 
law-table, and then it will be said I have only made a 
fashionable journey, whose expense and time I might have 
turned to better account. Ah! well,” he nodded, the 
cup of joy in this world must always have its dregs : a 
man’s calling is rarely his choice, and if the fulfilment of 
duty were not often heavy, it would be scarcely a virtue ; 
let us, then, as a virtuous man, pull faithfully in the old 
yoke. But, to-day,” he added, raising his head with spark- 
ling eyes, “ to-day is yet mine undisturbed : so, forward ! ” 

The fine, powerful young figure that now overcame with 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


15 


its elastic step the difficulties of the steep mountain-path, 
was one of those on which the eyes of the spectator remain 
involuntarily fixed. The knapsack, with a plaid buckled 
upon it, the stick with its chamois horn, and the stoutly 
soled shoes indicated a foot-traveller, while the simple but 
faultlessly fitting garments, the fine linen, and the whole 
bearing betrayed the member of “ good ” society. From 
under the low, gray felt hat gleamed a pair of keen eyes 
that seized every object with precision, and the blonde 
mustache, though still slight, gave to his fresh features 
an expression of manliness. 

After a half-hour’s energetic climbing, the “ Hospice,” 
a stone hut, built as a place of refreshment, was coming 
into view, when a sudden rattle like thunder, apparently 
out of the distance, followed by countless strokes dying 
away by degrees, broke upon the stillness. It sounded as 
if a whole mountain had crumbled, and had sent its rocky 
masses in separate giant fragments into the valley below : 
it was not the thunder of the avalanche — it was precisely 
the noise of the crushing and crashing of great masses ; 
but in not more than two minutes it had died away in 
sounds echoing one by one from a distance. 

The traveller listened for a little while, but nothing 
more disturbed the deep silence of the mountain-world, 
and, shaking his head in wonder, he began to ascend with 
easier steps the small remaining part of the height. 
Scarcely, however, had he reached the top of the moun- 
tain near the “ Hospice,” when, in the presence of the 
scene before him, he forgot his surprise. The so-called 
sea of ice, the smooth surface of the Bois glacier, lay in 
all its extent and its wild splendor before him. Hark 
giant rock-masses, their heads covered with snow of 
blinding whiteness, encircled two-thirds of the icy plain, 


16 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


and in their ragged nakedness and shattered forms of- 
fered a picture that exalted by its majesty and yet de- 
pressed by its comfortless desolation. Behind, and partly 
concealed by them, lay Mont Blanc, and involuntarily, 
at the thought of it, the soul is filled with mighty images, 
which combine themselves, with what is presented to the 
eye, into a greater whole. Toward the valley the glacier 
fell like a frozen cataract in a hundred wonderful shapes, 
torn above into dark chasms, and over this wild, icy scene 
lay a silence, in which columns of vapor rose here and 
there from hidden crevices, lingered a moment on the 
horizon, and then sank away in the same mysterious 
stillness, like the breathings of the giant-spirits of the 
mountain. 

The traveller had gone slowly forward in silent con- 
templation, and he stood now before the path which, 
winding among the obstacles of the way, led tow T ard the 
field of ice ; meanwhile his eye roved slowly round, seem- 
ing to seek another point for his next goal. Entering a 
second narrow footway, which followed the windings of 
the cliff, he turned toward a part of the rock that pro- 
mised a possibility for a still broader outlook : after a 
half-hour’s climbing, that grew constantly rougher, he 
suddenly stood still and looked around him. Not far 
from him the whole cliff appeared to have torn itself from 
some height ; the way was barricaded with mighty frag- 
ments, and rocks of the greatest size were scattered far 
over the glacier: all around him was a scene of wild 
destruction ; but there, where the fall had apparently been, 
a peak, five hundred feet high, raised itself, towering above 
all the other crags, showing the break in the rocky wall ; 
and the young man could understand now the noise that 
he had heard on his way up the mountain. The over- 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


17 


throw of whole masses of rock, which, undermined by 
the torrents, have lost their support, is in this part of the 
Alps a very common occurrence. Slowly and observantly 
he examined the height ; but after a short time his eye 
kindled, and fastened on a point where the continuation 
of the mountain-peaks fitted the broken place. There, 
above, something was moving, but the distance was too 
great to make out the nature of the remarkable object; 
and the traveller quickly took out a little spy-glass, and 
searched industriously the point that he had found. Now 
he had discovered it : a woman’s figure, waving a hand- 
kerchief, stood before his glass, and the observer thought 
her eyes so decidedly fixed upon him, that he could not 
doubt that she had detected his presence. A little, round 
straw hat, with a waving veil, covered her head ; a light 
mantle, which concealed the upper part of her figure, had 
slipped from her right shoulder, giving free motion to her 
arm ; and suddenly there darted through the mind of the 
young man his brief interview with the two riders who 
had descended the mountain. They had been anxious 
about the delay of a young lady: there on the giddy 
height she was certainly standing, having no doubt either 
climbed too high, or been cut off from returning by the 
fall of rock. He raised both hands to make a speaking- 
trumpet before his mouth, and imitated the shrill call of 
the shepherds ; and a few seconds after came as answer a 
sound half carried away by the wind, accompanied by a 
more vigorous swinging of the white handkerchief. He 
understood easily enough that she expected help from 
him ; at the same time there came into his mind the pic- 
ture that he had formed of the proud “ shoulder-shrug- 
ging miss,” and with the simple impulse of humanity to 
help her, he felt a remarkable fascination in making 
2* B 


18 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


the acquaintance of such a character in this unusual 
fashion. 

For half a minute he considered whether he should not, 
for greater security, turn back to the “ Hospice ” and ask 
for assistance. But the house was a whole hour’s journey 
away : during his long absence the wanderer might change 
her position in an attempt to help herself, and so fail to 
be found again ; and besides, it was uncertain whether the 
Hospice could afford immediate aid. With hasty resolu- 
tion he made himself ready to attempt the risk alone. He 
was no novice in rock-climbing : his alpenstock and a 
hempen rope that he took from his knapsack had already 
freed him several times from critical situations in his often 
unguided ramblings of the last few weeks ; and as he now 
fastened his handkerchief to the stick to give token of his 
intention, he felt the undertaking as scarcely anything 
more than a piquant adventure. 

For a considerable time he let his eyes roam over the 
steeply rising rocks, in a vain effort to discover some pos- 
sibility of ascent, until at last his glance fell from a cleft 
high above him to a dark line running downward, and, 
after some hard clambering over the blocks of stone that 
filled the way, he found a crevice, not more than six or eight 
inches wide, leading to the height. Without reflection, 
clinging fast to the rocks, he entered the dangerous path, 
that often inclined so much that it scarcely gave the need- 
ful support to his feet : often the rough way demanded the 
whole of his muscular strength ; and, half exhausted by 
the strain upon all his powers, but with a fresh spirit, he 
reached at last the cleft, in which the snow-water, running 
down from the rocky peaks, rippled like a little brook. 
Here he rested for a brief moment, and began carefully to 
ascertain his position. He was some distance from the 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


19 


point on which he had seen the woman’s figure, and his 
aim, as soon as he could contrive a way to the higher 
regions of the rock, must be to approach the detached 
portion from the side or the back : but first to determine, 
from the situation of things around him, his next steps. 

He clambered cautiously upward in the cleft. Eight 
and left appeared solitary rocks, so water-washed that 
whole caverns had been formed in them ; but soon the 
side walls sank and the climber attained a sort of nar- 
rower plateau, that ended on all three sides in a confusion 
of yawning chasms and rent pyramids of granite. After 
a slow, sharp look around him, he descried on the rocky 
walls, through which he had just come, a kind of natural 
channel leading upward, and, with the help of his stick 
hooked in the cracks of the stone, he succeeded in reach- 
ing the height itself. After some difficult climbing, the 
chosen path at last grew wider and smoother ; but soon 
it began to part toward different sides, and the young 
man found himself in a complete labyrinth of giant 
blocks, towering cones, and torn masses of rock, that made 
it impossible for him to keep in one decided direction. 
Now he knew no more whether he was not further from 
his goal rather than nearer to it, and finally he stood still 
in doubt, put his hands again to his mouth, and repeated 
his shrill cry. But, however sharply he listened, and 
however sure he was that in the dead stillness around 
him he must have heard even a faint answer, nothing 
came to his ear but the constant dropping of the melting 
snow. He saw that he must reach the highest point of 
the mountain range in order to secure an open view and 
security for his next movements ; and making use of the 
nearest place that seemed to offer him the chance of 
ascent, he began, by the aid of his hooked stick, to climb 


20 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


from cleft to cleft of the peak. Then, all at once, he saw 
the line that he had taken cut through by a sort of path, 
in which, here and there, human hands had apparently 
been active ; and when, following this with new ardor, he 
turned a projecting corner, he discovered at one side, a 
little way above him, the wall of rock he was seeking, 
rising beyond the general crest. There the way evidently 
closed in a great cube of granite ; but in vain the climber 
looked around for the figure of the straying girl ; and 
when he, at last, reached the top of the wall without 
finding any living thing for his gaze to rest upon, as his 
eye involuntarily pursued the comparatively easy path 
that led to the summit, and would have rested on the 
incomparable view that gave the whole extent of the sea 
of ice and the neighboring glacier, the thought came to 
him suddenly that he had very probably been the sport 
of some mischievous traveller, who had long ago taken 
the return path in safety, while he, at the peril of his life, 
was seeking a way up the side of the glacier. Once more 
he let his eye run over every part of the surrounding 
region. He was certain that he knew the exact spot where 
the girl had stood, and a deep indignation began to rise 
within him. Just to be sure of the delusion, he sounded 
the shepherd’s cry again over the rocks. A tenfold echo 
answered ; but, in the midst of it, there came from a little 
distance so clear a call that the young man could not 
help starting slightly. In vain, however, he looked in 
the direction of the sound, to discover the retreat of the 
caller. Everywhere there met him only the bare, un- 
„ broken crest of rock, which on that side fell with a sheer 
descent. Anew he shouted ; anew came the answer. It 
came plainly from beyond the ridge ; and, with a gesture 
of surprise, the seeker fastened his eyes upon the place 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


21 


whence the voice had sounded. With a few cautious 
steps one could reach the point ; but as the young man 
approached the verge, he threw himself on the ground, 
and moved slowly forward until he could look far below 
the path he had lately followed. Pressing on some 
inches farther, he perceived, perhaps ten feet below him, 
the beginning of a crevice in the rock, which seemed to 
have been connected with the broken part of the neighbor- 
ing wall, and to have extended into it. As he now shouted 
again, a voice near him said, in broken French, plainly 
betraying an English accent : “ This way, monsieur ; and 
if you have anything that will serve as a rope, let it 
down. I think I shall be able then to help myself.” 

“ Have patience for one minute, miss,” he answered, in 
admirable English, turning quickly toward the place 
from which the tones had come ; and in the next second 
he was occupied in opening his knapsack. The rope 
appeared, and he began to tie a long row of knots at one 
end. In the nearest block of granite he made the other 
end fast, and let the knotted part down to the girl. 
“ Now try to work yourself up until you can reach my 
hand,” he cried, stretching himself again on the earth ; 
and immediately he saw the cord tighten. He waited 
with suspended breath. He did not dare to put his head 
far over the abyss, though, in that way, he could have 
looked far below. Then he saw coming into the range 
of his vision a head bent down, covered with golden-brown, 
shimmering hair, behind which the straw hat, that had 
fallen off, hung by a ribbon : two slight shoulders fol- 
lowed ; and now, with a firm hand, the young man seized 
the climber by both arms. But at this instant it seemed 
as if all her strength had deserted her. With a weight 
to which her rescuer’s power was scarcely equal, he sud- 


22 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


denly found the whole burden of her form hanging on 
his hands, and he cried, in increasing anxiety: “Just 
one more brief effort, miss, and you are up. Brace your 
knee against the rock : now ! ” A visible exertion fol- 
lowed, and by a mighty pull he drew the upper part of 
the imperilled girl’s figure up over the cliff. She grasped 
convulsively the rope lying along the ground ; but, in the 
next second, the young man was on his feet, helping her, 
by a short struggle, to attain complete footing on the 
firm earth. She raised herself by his hand slowly from her 
knees, and a tall, slender figure, whose youthful contour 
was plainly shown by the closely-fitting dress that reached 
to the throat, and a pale face, with darkly-shadowed eyes, 
appeared to the gaze of her helper. She took two steps 
away from the chasm, but then, with a sudden trembling, 
she stretched her hand toward his shoulder. 

“ Wait, miss, till you have recovered yourself,” he cried, 
quickly going to her support ; and for a moment he felt 
her lithe figure resting almost fainting upon him ; but 
she had scarcely become conscious of the pressure of his 
sustaining form, when, by a slight motion, she raised her- 
self, and pressed her hand upon her eyes. 

“ It is only a momentary giddiness,” she said, half 
aloud. “ I have eaten scarcely anything to-day.” 

“ Then allow me to offer you what I carry for this kind 
of necessity,” he answered eagerly, looking for a conve- 
nient place for her to sit down. “ It will at least supply 
your most pressing need.” 

Without waiting for remonstrance, he had led her to a 
low block of stone near by. His plaid was quickly un- 
fastened and spread over the cold seat ; and, as she sat 
down, he took out of his knapsack a flask of “ cherry- 
water” and a cake of chocolate. “Take a few drops, 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


23 


which will, at all events, remove your temporary weak- 
ness, and then eat,” said he, laying his stores in her lap. 
“ I will see if I can get you some water.” 

When, after an absence of perhaps half an hour, he 
came back with his leathern cup filled, the maiden was 
standing up, carefully studying the horizon, and the 
young man stopped for a few seconds, held back by a 
sudden impression that the first glimpse of her gave him. 
Her head, surrounded by its abundant hair, was set with 
peculiar firmness upon the proud, white neck, while her 
face, half turned away, showed an almost classic purity 
of outline. Her right hand rested on a mass of rock, and 
her figure, bent slightly back, displayed the full beauty 
of its proportions. There was in her appearance the con- 
sciousness of high position, the habit of commanding, and 
when he involuntarily added to it the cold, proud shrug 
of her shoulders, which he had not been able to forget, he 
felt that an incautious heart might easily be brought by 
her into life-long sorrow. But she could scarcely have 
heard his approaching steps when she turned her head 
slowly toward him, and so clear and full a smile broke 
over her features that all his former impressions of her 
vanished in an extraordinary emotion. She had cast a 
quick look over him, and then, with a slight blush, she 
extended her hand. “ I believe, sir, you have saved me 
from fainting,” she said, in a voice, whose sonorous ful- 
ness seemed capable of modulation to the deepest con- 
tralto ; “ but I must not stay here long to thank you. 
There are clouds coming up, from which our guides have 
always prophesied rain within the next hour.” 

The young man’s look had been raised mechanically in 
the direction indicated, but it fell again unconsciously to 
the expressive eyes before him, which seemed to have no 


24 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


decided color, but, with the changing moods of her soul, 
now to kindle to a deep blue, now to deepen into black. 
He had taken the maiden’s hand in his with a light 
pressure, and had unwittingly retained it : a brighter red 
than before now came into her cheeks. “ Y ou have water 
here : it will do me good,” she said, gently freeing her 
hand, and taking the cup. “ And now let us linger here 
not a moment longer.” 

“ If you are only strong enough for a hard journey 
back,” he answered, speedily coming to himself ; “ but 
the path by which you must have come up cannot be free 
from difficulties.” 

A quick glance met his. Then she looked into the 
distance, and, without speaking, slightly shrugged her 
shoulders. That was it ! But, even in the next moment, 
she seemed to repent the motion, and she turned her face 
toward him again, a smile seeming to struggle upon it 
y/ith her pride. “ Truly, you have seen me weak for a 
moment,” she said, unfastening her hat and fixing it 
securely once more on her head ; “ but that is over, and I 
hope not to remind you of it. Let us spend no more time 
here.” 

He put the things that he had taken from his knapsack 
quickly enough into their places, threw it on his back, 
and, with his plaid over his arm, followed the girl, who 
was already descending. An examination of the horizon 
had convinced him that there would be a change in the 
weather. The air was sensibly colder, and, when he 
looked at his companion, he was surprised at the thinness 
of her clothing. 

“ Had n’t you an outer wrapping, miss, when I first saw 
you ?” he called to her, as she hastened on. She turned 
her head, without pausing a moment. “ It is lying there, 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


25 


where you helped me up,” she answered with a light 
laugh. “ I could n’t use it in my first sailor’s feat, and 
I can go more easily without it now.” 

The farther the path that they were following wound 
down the rocks, the rougher it became, and often its direc- 
tion could be recognized only by a wider opening here 
and there. The sky grew blacker every instant. Where 
a view opened between the peaks, the gathering clouds 
appeared to be rolling down from the heights, and soon 
the distant portions of the savage landscape were wholly 
covered with mist. But the young man had at times 
scarcely a fleeting look for the sky and the way. His 
eyes clung immovably to the elegant form and light 
movements of his leader, who, in the strength of her will, 
seemed to bid defiance to all the roughnesses of the moun- 
tain path, and hastened forward with quick and even 
steps. But, as if she had felt his gaze, she stood suddenly 
still at the entrance of a gorge, and turned back with a 
slight blush. “ Won’t you , for once, try to undertake the 
office of guide ? ” she said. “ I have not a trace of recol- 
lection of this formation around us, and here there seems 
to be no trace at all to speak of.” 

He had to overcome a brief confusion, before he could 
examine the surroundings with clear consciousness, and 
nowhere in the rough stone was there a mark to guide 
him. “ Stay here a moment, miss,” he said, after some 
consideration : “ if the rocky ground continues so even, 
we are certainly in the right path ; otherwise we must look 
for some way out.” He turned hastily round a corner of 
the range that hid the prospect ; but even here there was 
no open view : he was compelled to seek his way over 
rougher and rougher ground, among rocks rising on all 
sides. Doubting still more the correctness of the path, but 
3 


26 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


not yet convinced that it was wrong, he went forward, 
until in about ten minutes he found his further progress 
entirely stopped, and at the same time he felt the air 
pressing upon him like a thick, warm mist. 

He went hurriedly back ; but before he reached his 
companion, a light sprinkling rain fell on his face, and 
for the first time he realized that he must brave a storm 
in the rocky wilderness, with this entirely unprotected girl. 

She was standing where he had left her, and she looked 
at him with a triumphant smile. “ Can’t I prophesy 
well ? ” she cried, catching the falling drops in her hand ; 
but at the first glance he had unfastened his plaid and 
hastened to her with it. “You must shelter yourself, 
miss,” said he, laying the thick covering around her 
shoulders, without awaiting her permission. “You are 
not used to cold baths in the open air, like a foot-travel- 
ler, and I only wish that we could have found a place of 
refuge before the heavier burst of the storm. Let us see 
what the gorge offers : it is at all events the only direction 
that we can take.” 

She turned toward him with a curious look, without 
taking the plaid. “ Every drop of rain must bring danger 
to us women ! ” she said, with a little movement of her 
upper lip. “ After what has happened, of course you have 
a right to put yourself in the ranks of the stronger 
sex — ” 

“I do not understand you, miss,” he answered, sur- 
prised. 

“Well, I have always considered the anxious care for 
the feebleness of women only as a systematic humiliation, 
as a pleasant mode of keeping before their eyes the neces- 
sity of their dependent position ! ” she replied. “ But let 
it be so,” she continued, while the same smile as before 


TWO HEMISPHERE S. 


27 


broke its way through the expression of pride around her 
mouth. “ I can scarcely protest now, in sight of the place 
that you freed me from ; and so you may have your satis- 
faction ! ” 

She wrapped the plaid around her with a quick move- 
ment, and turned toward the gorge. Scarcely had he 
followed her, struggling with the fascination which the 
whole being of the maiden exercised upon him, when the 
first mighty thunder rolled among the mountains, and 
the fine rain changed to a great torrent ; but at the same 
instant his conductor stood still. 

“ Come quickly — here is shelter ! ” she cried to him, and 
in the next minute she had vanished in the side of the 
rock. The young man did not delay in following, and in 
a second he stood, but little wet, before one of those 
remarkable grottos that are formed by the water, and are 
so often found in this region of the Alps. It was but a 
narrow room, which, in its greatest height, just let them 
stand upright ; but the rock rose like a roof over the 
entrance, and would at least give refuge from the rain. 

The girl seemed to have noticed, with a ready eye, the 
peculiarities of the place, for, when her companion reached 
the entrance, he saw her already covering with the plaid, 
as a seat, a low, smooth projection of the stone ; but 
noticing, at the first look, that there would hardly be 
room enough for him by her, he took up his position at 
the inner opening of the grotto. 

He stood there awhile, following the course of the 
storm, which was rising to its full strength ; the thunder 
sounded, stroke after stroke, growing often in the echoes 
of the hills to a giant roaring ; the rain poured in full 
torrents, and soon the channel-like ground of the gorge 
had become a dashing mountain-brook, hastening furi- 


28 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


ously downward ; but when his ear had become accus- 
tomed to the wild tumult, and he was sure of the safety 
of the place, he turned his attention almost unconsciously 
to the maiden sitting close behind him. He heard the 
rustle of her garments, as if she was trying to find herself 
another position : his inner vision seemed to see the move- 
ments of her pliant figure, and the loneliness of the place, 
the isolation and concealment of their situation, filled him 
with an uncomprehended feeling. He did not see that 
the water, as it dashed past, was foaming more and more 
wildly at his feet, and sending whole fountains toward 
him ; and the voice of his neighbor first recalled him to 
the reality. 

“You are becoming wet where you stand, sir,” said 
she. “ There is room here for us both, if we arrange it 
properly. Lay your luggage down, and take your place 
here.” 

He turned his head quickly, and saw her withdrawn 
into the corner, with her dress closely gathered up ; so 
there was really a part of the improvised seat left free, 
but not enough to prevent two persons sitting there to- 
gether from coming necessarily into pretty close prox- 
imity ; and it seemed to him an abuse of the girl’s tempo- 
rary situation to accept a proposal which only his exposed 
position could have gained from her. “ Thank you, miss,” 
he answered ; “ I should only make you uncomfortable, 
and the slight dampness here is not worth noticing.” 

“Your consideration will force me to give up my own 
place,” she returned, in a tone of some impatience. “ I 
| hate all the sacrifices demanded by modern society, and 
I will not accept my comfort at your expense — ” 

“You are unjust, miss,” he interrupted; and the im- 
pulse rose in him to take this extraordinary character as 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


29 


it presented itself. “ I intended only to exercise tliel dis- 
cretion becoming a polite man, who would not make still 
harder the singularity of your situation. But you shall 
have entire command of my conduct ; ” and, laying down 
his knapsack, he prepared to share with her the narrow 
seat. She drew her shoulders up slightly, and pressed 
herself against the side wall; but he was obliged, not- 
withstanding, to put his arm behind her, in order to ob- 
tain the necessary room. 

“ You wished it, miss,” he said, hesitatingly, when, at 
his movements close beside her, her face grew a shade 
paler and a rigid expression came over her features ; but, 
instead of answering, she looked toward the entrance, 
which rose but little above the height of the passing flood, 
and just then was overflowed by the waves, which rolled 
nearly to the feet of those who were seated within. 

“ We will not be able to stay in this position,” he 
began, as if in conflict with himself, after a pause which 
both had spent in utter stillness. “ Make yourself com- 
fortable, miss. Lean against my arm, and trust my 
honor. Besides, we do not know how long we may be 
obliged to remain here.” 

She threw a quick, keen glance into his eyes. “I have 
not doubted your honor, sir, or else we should not sit 
here,” she said, with a singularly deep tone of voice. 
“ But you may be right that it is folly to weary oneself 
still further,” she added, drooping her head slightly ; and, 
as if freed from a painful constraint, she gave up her 
rigid attitude, and allowed herself to rest against her 
companion. A light color came again into her face, and 
then she slowly raised her head toward him with a clear, 
bright smile. 

The young man felt this delicate, elegant form against 
3 * 


30 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


his arm — he felt her glance falling like a sunbeam into 
his soul — and for a moment he could scarcely resist the 
temptation to clasp the maiden closely in his arm. It 
was only a moment, and not a muscle had moved under 
the desire ; but it seemed as if she understood what had 
passed in his mind. A deeper color came into her cheeks, 
her gaze turned away, to avoid his, toward the open air, 
and her shoulders moved a little, as if to evade his touch ; 
but, after some seconds, she asked, in quite a peaceful 
tone : “ Do you know how late it is ? I am afraid the 
evening will surprise us here.” 

The young man took out his watch, happy to escape 
from the confusion which had overcome him. “ Just past 
four, miss,” he said. “ We have still three hours of day- 
light, and the storm is too severe to last very long. But 
your father and the other gentlemen will already have 
been very anxious about you.” 

“My father? What do you know of my father?” she 
asked quickly, looking up in surprise. 

“ I only supposed him to be so from his anxious search- 
ing for you,” he returned ; and then he gave a short his- 
tory of his meeting with the travellers on his upward 
way. 

She listened attentively; but when he told her the 
expressions that the two riders had used about her, a 
look of contempt flitted over her face. “ Did he say 
that ? He seems to have come suddenly to the knowl- 
edge.” She nodded, as if speaking to herself. “ I 
always like to take my own independent way, even if, for 
the future, I may avoid to some extent solitude in the 
mountains;” and she turned to her companion with a 
gleam of humor playing on her fresh lips. “ Mr. Graham 
— that is the second gentleman that you mentioned — 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


31 


could not, after visiting the glacier, tear himself from 
the breakfast in the Hospice, and I tried meanwhile to 
get a new view by myself. I am tolerably sure that I 
followed a regular path all the way up, though indeed I 
had only an eye for the scenery, and not for the formation 
around me. I reached finally the top of the mountain 
crest, and felt a wonderful charm in being on the edge of 
that yawning precipice, where the wall has fallen. A 
little below me was an odd projection, that hung like a 
t balcony over the abyss, and I was seized with an uncon- 
querable desire to look for some way to it. I soon saw 
an accessible crevice which would lead me without danger 
to the place ; but I had taken only a few steps on that 
side of the crest when a piece of rock broke away 
under my feet, and left me just time enough to spring 
into the cleft ; and if it had been possible for so light a 
leap to cause a concussion in the masses of rock, I must 
believe myself to have been the immediate cause of what 
followed. At the instant when I reached firm ground, a 
noise arose near me that seemed as if the whole mountain, 
together with myself, was rushing to destruction ; and 
when I fully recovered my senses, after a short stupor 
into which the noise and alarm had plunged me, I found 
that my balcony and a strip of the rocky precipice had 
vanished, and with them also my path to the summit. I 
was cut off from return ! ” 

“And how did you feel, miss?” asked the young man, 
resting his head upon his hand and watching the lively 
countenance of the girl. 

“ Not entirely comfortable,” she said, gayly ; “but I sup- 
posed surely that the direction in which I had gone from 
the Hospice had been marked, and it was only when I 
had waited in vain for an hour, that I perceived that my 


32 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


companions, thinking me to have preceded them, must 
have gone on their way to the valley.” 

“You told me the name of one of your escort,” he said, 
after a pause, in which she seemed to be watching the 
abating storm ; “ won’t you tell me another, now, miss ? ” 

A brighter flush came into her face, and faded again. 
“A name?” she answered, turning her head half to- 
ward him ; “ wherefore ? Names bring us directly back 
among the restrictions of society ; in fact, it is my duty 
to learn yours, but for the same reason I have avoided 
asking it. Imagine,” she continued, turning her gaze 
once more to the outer scene, “ that we are two men cast 
away on a desert island, and call me as you please.” 

“ I know,” he said, slowly, “ a wonderfully pretty Eng- 
lish story of a knight and a princess, who saved them- 
selves alone from a shipwreck upon a desert island, and 
there forgot both their names and the far-off conventional 
constraints. ” 

She rose suddenly and went to the entrance, where the 
water had sunk with the same rapidity with which it had 
risen. He looked at her for some seconds, and then pressed 
his hand upon his eyes. Never before had he met so 
variable a character, and yet there was something won- 
derfully enchanting in this quick changing of her moods, 
each of which appeared to have full control over her, and 
which showed themselves without concealment in the clear 
mirror of her features. It seemed as if she had been 
offended by his application of the image of the desert 
island, yet he could not repress a smile at the thought, 
and involuntarily he tried to fancy the expression of her 
face, which she hid from him. 

Only when he felt a light touch upon his shoulder, he 
came-out of his abstraction. She was standing half turned 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


33 


toward him, and she pointed to the gorge, where a Sun- 
beam was breaking on the damp stone. “We can go,” 
she said, pressing her hat lightly on her hair. The young 
man tried vainly to read her features ; she was immovable 
and cold, and he had scarcely seized his knapsack when 
she stepped out into the open air, and went before him 
through the gorge. 

The storm had passed entirely away, the ground showed 
only here and there hollows filled with water, and both 
of the travellers had for a while gone silently between the 
rocky walls, when suddenly the narrow passage widened, 
and in an instant a free outlook opened over the glacier, 
gilded by the sinking sun ; and here there was a rude 
bridge laid over a rocky cleft. “ There is the path, now 
I recognize it again ; we were in the right way after all ! ” 
She turned quickly, and stepped lightly and securely over 
the boards still wet with rain. She advanced rapidly, 
as if wishing to avoid conversation. Soon the rough 
ground showed increasing signs of the levelling hand of 
man, and the young man began to turn his thoughts to 
the Hospice at the end of the way, where the separation 
would probably take place, when the girl suddenly stop- 
ped, and, stretching out her head toward the valley, 
listened. Now there came to the ear of the young man 
distant human voices. As soon as the listening girl was 
sure of their real nature, she turned and beckoned to her 
companion to stay back. “We must part here, sir,” she 
said, hastily coming up to him ; “ I hear the voices of my 
father and Mr. Graham, who are no doubt on the way 
up, looking for me, and I will not grant this Mr. Graham 
the pleasure of hearing of an embarrassment out of which 
I was not able to help myself.” She stopped, and her 
face had an expression of uncertainty, but she did not 
C 


34 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


turn away from the young man’s eyes, in which were 
reflected all the conflicting emotions that this sudden 
separation called up. “I haven’t thanked you yet for 
the service you have done me, sir ! ” she continued, hesi- 
tatingly, while a bright blush slowly spread over her fine 
features. “ Have you your card with you ? ” 

Without a word, he took out his pocket-book ; she took 
the card with its finely engraved address : “ Hugo Zedwitz, 
Referendary of the Court of Judicature, Berlin,” and hid 
it in the pocket of her dress ; then she extended her hand 
and clasped his fingers in her own. “ We shall scarcely 
meet again, sir,” she said, in the soft, deep tones of her 
voice; “and the story on the desert island ended when the 
pair were discovered. Good-by, then,” she concluded ; 
but the young man saw her eye, in whose dark depths a 
singularly gentle expression had arisen, still resting on 
his, he still felt the pressure of her fingers, her fresh lips 
glowed near him, and, seized by a sudden presentiment 
of an unexpected, sweet permission, he had put his arm 
lightly around her and pressed his lips to hers before he 
was quite aware of his own intention. She made no resist- 
ance; but when, overcome by happiness, he drew her 
closer to him, she tore herself away with gentle force. 
“ Enough of leave-taking, sir,” she said hastily. He felt 
a brief pressure of her hand, and then she departed, fol- 
lowing the path into the valley with agile, rapid steps. 

When, without looking round, she had disappeared be- 
hind the nearest corner of the rocks, he seated himself 
on the edge of the road, and covered his face with his 
hands, as if to let himself come to a full consciousness of 
his adventure. 


II. 


A SECOND MEETING, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. 
OUR weeks had passed. 



J- “But what is it, expressed in clear, unmistakable 
words, that is laid to my charge ? I dare to count myself 
among the most honest young men of my position in 
Berlin. I work as diligently as any of my colleagues ; 
and if any one has a complaint to make of my heart or 
my deficient devotion, it is certainly not my father.” 

It was the referendary Zedwitz, who had just interrupted 
his rapid walk through his room, and had stood still while 
uttering these sadly spoken words. 

On the sofa before him was sitting a young man of 
about his own age ; but while his own appearance showed 
the elegance and the easy movements of the high-bred 
citizen, the ways of an entirely different circle of society 
were expressed in the smoothly arranged hair, the simply 
cut clothing, and the unassuming attitude of the other, 
whose mild, dark-blue eye was in accordance with his air. 

In the corner, near the table, which was covered with 
books and law-papers, and from which a solar lamp 
poured its clear light over the pleasantly furnished room, 
sat a third man of the same age, but in a coat evidently 
well worn. He had both elbows comfortably supported 
on his knees, and his gray, cunning eyes rested alternately 
on^his companions. 


35 


36 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


“ If I could have given a decided explanation, I should 
not have made you ask,” answered the one addressed. 
“ Much is changed, Hugo, since you were last in your 
father’s house ; but the change only makes itself felt, 
without touching much of the outward appearance of 
things. The old gentleman sits, just as he used to do, at 
the half-century-old writing-desk in his working-room, 
examining and decreeing all things ; and old Mangold 
carries different orders with the same subservient mien as 
ever to the offices as well as to the dwelling.” 

“ He swallowed a ramrod once by mistake, but other- 
wise he is an excellent old man,” muttered the listener 
at the writing-table, half aloud. 

“ The grandmother has grown only a little older,” con- 
tinued the first. “ She still continually knits stockings 
for the girls, though the hundred for each has long been 
completed, and suns herself at the window by the garden. 
Your sisters govern the house as they did formerly, pat- 
terns, at the same time, of hostesses and true ladies. 
Outwardly everything is as of old, but another tone 
reigns in the house, Hugo. Where I used to have unre- 
strained admittance as your friend and schoolmate, now 
something meets me that I can scarcely express in words. 
The servants appear to have orders to observe toward me 
the same form as to any stranger. Y our father, when I 
meet him in the family circle, puts on an air of cold po- 
liteness. The grandmother is apparently anxious, when 
I seat myself near her in the usual way : she seems unable 
to subdue her friendly, loving heart, and yet she fears to 
enter into a confidential conversation with me. Helen is 
paler than I have ever known her, and she vanishes 
regularly as soon as I appear, and Marie is the only one 
who seems to dare to receive me. But it is a remarkable 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


87 


seriousness with which she treats me, and she visi- 
bly avoids being alone with me, as if she dreaded a 
demand for an explanation. The old social circle is 
somewhat changed too. There is a school-director — 
Messner — who must be making a rapid career ; for he is 
still a young man. He seems to be completely domesti- 
cated, and particularly with the old lady. I have often 
tried to break the ice by a conversation about you, and 
this was indeed the only point that could excite your 
father to longer speech, but it was never friendly. You 
live too much in society for his taste : it leads you into 
unnecessary expenses. You go too far for him, with 
your modern views of the world and things — farther than 
is consistent with existing standards. You pursue alto- 
gether too many scientific ‘ dissipations ’ for him, instead 
of preparing only for your assessor’s examination; and 
since you can arrange your inheritance from your mother, 
he seems to believe in an intentional separation of your 
interests from those of the family.” 

“ And the grandmother, Fritz — have you never heard 
her say a word in my favor ?” interrupted Hugo Zedwitz, 
who, with increasing attention, had followed his friend’s 
words. “The girls may not dare — I know that; but 
the old lady has always known how to keep her influence 
over my father, and she loves me ! ” 

Fritz shook his head slowly. “ Something strange Jkas 
hapjjened in your family,” he answered, “that has de- 
stroyed the spirit that used to exist in it, but about 
which, now that I am outside of the circle, I can say no 
more.” 

Hugo made a hasty step toward the speaker. “ There 
was once some affection between you and Helen, Fritz,” 
said he, drawing his eyes together, as if a suggestive 
4 


38 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


thought had struck him. “Is something for the girl’s 
future on foot, that you are in the way ? Then, of course, 
even my friendship for you would be made into a new 
crime for me ! ” 

The other blushed like a girl. “ Let us leave that sub- 
ject,” he said, letting his eyes sink. “ I am only a mer- 
chant, who can have no other career than my father’s 
business offers, and I would be so great a hinderance to 
one of your father’s fine plans that he lets you suffer for 
our friendship. If I spoke of myself, it was only to give 
you an idea of the altered tone in your house, which has 
shown itself to you in the sharp criticism of your life and 
doings. Even your Swiss journey is called an extrava- 
gance, and the grandmother herself dares not take your 
part.” 

“ And now might I also say one word ? ” began the 
third young man, rising hastily. “ If my father is only 
the office-servant Mangold, and I, from being a joiner 
without work, have been promoted, out of pure grace, to 
be the house - servant and factotum of his highness the 
referendary — ” 

“ Don’t be an ass, Heinrich ! ” interrupted Hugo. 

“ Thank you kindly. I have quite a collection of the 
same marks of distinction,” nodded the joiner, indiffer- 
ently. “Well, if I then, and so forth; yet we are all 
three out of the one city, and schoolmates, and I belong 
to the family here in Berlin, at least. Fritz Romer, as 
he sits here, always turns his head away when he sees 
others going up a cherry-tree, and wipes his mouth long- 
ingly when there is nothing more to get. If I had such 
a grandmother — God bless her ! she has given me many 
a piece of bread and butter and many a half-penny — 
nobody should come into the warm nest that had been 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


39 


open to me. Besides, a sharp axe is suitable for hard 
wood, and an old gentleman with a rigid brow troubler 
himself but little about that which gives way modestly 
before his tread. But there is really not so much differ- 
ence between the position of privy counsellor and that of 
merchant. Meanwhile it is an affair that does n’t concern 
me,” he interrupted himself, as Romer began to move un- 
easily. “ But if the old difficulty between father and son 
always gets sharper without any wrong being done, there 
must be a secret, sneaking fellow sitting somewhere in 
the background, whom a good friend ought to be able to 
put his hands on soon enough. Now, there is the Swiss 
journey,” he continued hurriedly, as the merchant raised 
his head as if to interrupt him. “‘If you do no stupid 
tricks, and ask me for no money, do what you please, 
Heinrich,’ said my father ; and even a counsellor could say 
nothing else if a special flea had not been put in his ear. 
Of the moral results of this journey — that now the con- 
versation must be only of princesses, if the other sex is in 
question at all — of course no one at home dreams of all 
that.” 

“ Heinrich ! ” 

“ ‘ Don’t be an ass ! ’ I know. I saw, only day before 
yesterday, with my own eyes” — he turned to Romer 
again — “ that he stared into a regal equipage as if 
stunned by a blow, seized me by the coat-collar, as if 
credit with the tailor was quite an ordinary affair, and, 
white as his own linen, said : ‘ It is she, or I am crazy ! ’ 
And I have had to brush his fine clothes for to-night’s 
soiree more than twice in vain. However, it don’t con- 
cern me,” he continued, as the referendary began his walk 
again with a movement of impatience ; “ but it is hard to 
understand what troubles the old gentleman in so inno- 


40 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


cent a life, unless there is the sneak I spoke of ; and the 
right kind of friend would stop his trade in spite of dis- 
cretion. There, I have finished.” 

“See, Fritz,” began Hugo, standing before the mer- 
chant, and cutting short his intended question. “ A son 
can scarcely love his father more than I love mine ; and 
even if, in earlier times, some ill-humor was created 
between us through my fault, yet there is no cause for it 
existing now. He cannot wish that I should share his 
opinions about everything — cannot find so much harm 
in a few studies that I pursue for recreation after this 
legal dust ; and with all his foolishness, Heinrich is right 
— that a foreign influence must be working in our house 
to my injury. You yourself have been intimidated; but 
now take notice : I will be your most faithful helper in the 
affair with my sister, if you will fathom the things at home 
without letting yourself be misled. I will write to-night 
to the girl, and you shall take the letter yourself to -morrow. 
Only see clearly, Fritz, and the circumstances must be 
of a very singular nature if we, with our united power, 
cannot help one another, notwithstanding my father’s 
peculiarities.” 

During the last words Romer’s face had gained a 
heightened color ; and, with a strong pressure, he laid 
his hand in the proffered one of his friend. “ I confess 
freely,” he said, “that I undertook my journey hither 
partly in the hope of being able to join my interests with 
yours in relation to the doings in your house. Now I 
have a certain right to act ; and you shall hear from me 
soon enough, depend upon it !” 

“ If only the cherry-tree is n’t already taken possession 
of,” murmured the joiner. 

“But now the Swiss journey — what is it about the 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


41 


princess and to-night’s soiree t ” continued the first, as 
if he would prevent any further reference to his own 
affairs. 

“ Some of Heinrich’s silliness,” answered the referen- 
dary. “ I had a short encounter in the Alps, and I 
hoped to see the apparition again here ; that is all.” 

“And no doubt I am keeping you from the soiree” 
said Homer, rising. “ Y ou ought to have mentioned it 
before.” 

“ I would have given it up on account of your visit,” 
the other replied, overcoming a slight abstraction, “ if it 
were not a kind of duty that calls me. To make the fourth 
at whist with three old ladies, or to rescue some unhappy, 
neglected damsel from her chair — these are the occupa- 
tions to which we are used ; but they give admittance to 
a circle of society through which alone it is possible to 
push one’s self rapidly forward.” 

“ Only, in to-day’s duty, do not forget the letter. I 
will expect you to-morrow morning at the hotel,” laughed 
the other, getting ready to go ; but Hugo seemed to hear 
the bantering vein in the other’s tone, and he accompanied 
him to the door with a pressure of his hand. 

When he came back, he strode quickly through the 
room with his eyes drawn together in vexation. “ Hein- 
rich,” he said, standing still. 

“Very true,” cried the one spoken to, rising stiffly, 
“ this time I have been a real ass with my chatter ; but 
that is the way, if a man gives his factotum only a half- 
confidence. I saw for the first time, when it was too late, 
that I had hit on the truth. Do you really expect to 
meet her, and do you know now who she is?” 

“ Call a carriage,” cried the other, casting off his dress- 
ing-gown, and reaching for the waistcoat and white satin 
4 * 


42 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


neck-tie that were lying near ; and, first giving an inquir- 
ing glance into the brightening face of his school-friend, 
the joiner hastened away. 

A half-hour afterward the referendary entered the 
hotel of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which was be- 
sieged by equipages, and, with a feeling of strange anxiety 
and eager expectation, ascended the stairs with their 
adornments of tapestry and orange-trees, almost without 
noticing the crowd around him in rustling silks, splendid 
uniforms^ and elegant citizen’s dress. He was no novice 
in the society surrounding him. The “ service ”of which he 
had spoken to his friend was usually only in the smaller 
evening circles of the higher officials of his own depart- 
ment ; but occasionally there took place a great f&te, to 
which certain chosen ones of the younger men were in- 
vited ; and he had regarded every one of these as a dis- 
tinction which he owed less to his own individual talents 
than to his education in social affairs. But to-day other 
feelings accompanied him to the brilliant soiree. Two 
days ago the features of her whom he had rescued, which 
he had thought of as a wonderful, but vanished dream, 
had presented themselves to his eye in bold reality. It 
was only a quick, fleeting apparition. An open court- 
equipage had passed his dwelling as he was standing at 
the window ready to go out ; and among the rich toilettes 
that filled the interior of the carriage, her face had sud- 
denly risen, so illuminated and distinct that a mistake 
was scarcely possible, even if he had been able to con- 
found her features with others under any circumstances. 
A quiet, deep earnestness was on her brow, and, in utter 
indifference, her eyes were gliding over the passing throng. 
Hugo had seized the image with one full glance, without 
being able, amid the thoughts that suddenly surged up 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


43 


within him, to make a motion or a sound ; and when, in 
the next instant, the joiner came up to him with the 
brush, he relieved his mind to the man to whom he had 
already, after his return, told something of his previous 
adventure. He had hastened into the street without be- 
ing conscious of a definite intention ; hut, when the car- 
riage quickly disappeared around the nearest corner, he 
realized that, without some remarkably happy chance, 
she was lost to him just as hopelessly as when he had let 
her leave him before, according to her own command. 
He had not the slightest trace of her name or the posi- 
tion of her family, but, according to present appearances, 
both were important. On the next morning came the card 
for the ministerial soiree. Most of the foreigners of dis- 
tinction then in the city would be invited, it said, and the 
Court would appear ; and there was at once an unerring 
certainty in Hugo’s soul that he would also find her there. 
What he intended, if his expectations should be fulfilled 
— he who, at th efUes in this region, was, at the most, con- 
demned, with many others, “ to stand by the wall ” — what 
he thought to gain if he succeeded in approaching her — 
he, the civilian referendary, in the presence of a lady, 
perhaps nobly born, who had not said in vain, “ Names 
bring us back immediately under the constraints of 
society ; ” all that he did not know — ■ he did not, indeed, 
think about it. All his thoughts clustered around the 
idea of that moment when he should see her again face 
to face. 

Among the guests who had arrived with him, he 
entered the great saloon. A peculiar stillness pervaded 
the throngs already there, indicating that some persons 
of importance were still expected ; and he wandered 
slowly among the groups of gentlemen, searching keenly 


44 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


the glistening ranks of ladies, without feeling his gaze 
attracted anywhere; and then, looking round for some 
friendly face, he gave one glance into the crowded, yet, 
to him, empty space, and steered his way through the in- 
creasing number to a window-niche, to which he had been 
beckoned by an acquaintance, when a universal move- 
ment arose in the company, and at once the murmur of 
conversation near him ceased. He knew that the Court 
had arrived, and involuntarily he changed the direction 
in which he was going. Slowly winding his way through 
the crowd, he approached the middle of the saloon, when 
he saw that the first of the new arrivals had nearly reached 
their seats. They were followed by a whole bevy of ladies, 
accompanied by cavaliers in the various uniforms of the 
Court and army, and all at once his eyes remained fixed 
in one direction, and the color left his face. There, 
among the rest, she was walking, whose coming had been 
awaited by all his thoughts, but so ensnaringly beautiful 
in her elegant ball toilette that he had to place his hand 
against his heart, which seemed to have too little room 
for the blood that rushed into it — as serious and proud 
in her mien as if all the surrounding splendor was only 
an accustomed thing to her. At her side was a tall man, 
with a full, dark beard, in a foreign uniform, who was 
evidently taking pains to continue a conversation. Mean- 
while she seemed scarcely to hear his words, and when at 
this moment the orchestra began an inspiriting composi- 
tion, new life, for the first time, shone in her face. She 
let her glance sweep attentively over the people about her, 
and Hugo saw her eye meet his ; but it passed carelessly on. 
Then, as if she had just become conscious of his gaze, she 
turned back suddenly, and looked at him in evident sur- 
prise, and a slight color came into her cheeks. Mean- 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


45 


while, with the first tones of the music, a new movement 
had taken place among the assembled crowds. The 
throng of guests flowed together between him and the 
long-desired vision, robbing him of the possibility of a 
second look ; but, with a feeling as if the loss or gain of 
life-long happiness was hanging on the next minute, he 
broke through the intercepting mass, scarcely observing 
the necessary form of apology for his comet-like path ; 
and, presently, he found himself near the maiden’s com- 
panion, who had just bent his head toward her, as if to 
take the opportunity given by the crashing music to say 
some significant word. But Hugo saw her face raised, as 
if in restrained impatience — saw just afterward that her 
eye discovered him ; and, with an enlivened expression, 
she made a movement as if she would withdraw from her 
conductor, and turn to him ; and, following only his in- 
ward impulse, he approached her, and said in English: 
“ May I greet you, miss ? ” 

“ Stay near me, as long as it is possible,” she answered, 
permitting her eye to rest on his for an instant ; “ I am 
astonished to see you here, but in a moment I shall be 
very glad ; there is something terrible in this compulsion 
to keep up every thread of conversation.” 

“ You know that only your word is needed for my con- 
duct,” he replied, eagerly, lowering his voice, while the 
familiarity of her greeting caused in him a sort of shud- 
der of happiness; “ but,” he continued, hesitating, “what 
shall I call you in this scene of formality ? The first, and 
most essential thing in these circles, an introduction, has 
not yet taken place between us ; the simple ‘ my lady,’ 
may help over the first difficulty.” 

She raised her head quickly, and an expression full of 
humor flitted over her face. “ My lady ? ” she echoed. 


40 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


Suddenly an open space was cleared before them, in 
which those in advance had already taken their seats: 
the referendary hesitated mechanically for a moment to 
enter this circle, which only the “cream” of the arrivals 
seemed to compose ; then he felt his shoulder touched, and 
he looked up into the angrily sparkling eye of the previous 
companion of his newly-found acquaintance. 

“If you are a man of honor, follow me!” he heard 
muttered in French, in a tone of excitement that corre- 
sponded with the look, and Hugo knew at once what was 
to be done. But it was almost a joyful feeling that came 
over him at the challenge, a kind of satisfaction in being 
able to defend his position to the girl, and for one second 
he looked round for her face. But he saw none but 
strangers around him, and with a brief, significant “I am 
ready, monsieur ! ” he drew himself to hjs full height, and 
followed the other to the principal entrance of the saloon. 

The spacious ante-room was occupied by only two 
lackeys, and his conductor addressed one of these in a few 
whispered words. The servant appeared to be uncertain, 
at first, how to fulfil the wish that had been expressed, 
looked uncertainly at the referendary standing in the 
background, and then, after renewed directions from the 
first speaker, he turned to a side-door, opening it, and 
passing through a dressing-room to a place behind it that 
had apparently been ordained, for that occasion, to hold 
such furniture and decorations as were in the wny. A 
single light was burning here, casting a doubtful glare 
over the high walls and surrounding objects : the man in 
uniform nodded with a satisfied air, and dismissed the 
lackey with a wave of his hand ; and when he saw him 
leave the dressing-room, he shut the door of the inner 
apartment. 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


47 


Hugo had made some steps forward, and he stood hoav 
with his eyes slightly drawn together and his noble figure 
held erect, awaiting speech. The other turned hastily 
toward him, and cast a short, dark look over his whole 
person. “I am the Count Wasiliwitseh,” he said, with 
curt haughtiness. “ I desire your card, or a satisfactory 
explanation of your behavior, that can be regarded in 
scarcely any other light than as an intentional affront.” 

Hugo’s hand moved to accede to the first desire; it 
agreed exactly with his momentary inclination to run a 
sharp tilt for the still mysterious being who had stolen all 
his thoughts and feelings, when suddenly the remem- 
brance of his father came coldly and with subduing 
power into his mind. A duel for the sake of a girl, as 
the issue would have been, would, in the circumstances, 
have * become the occasion for a new, and perhaps, irre- 
parable breach with the old official, and his severe, solid 
ways of thinking, and the whole heart of the young man 
strove against it. His opponent had scarcely spoken 
before he was ready with his decision. 

“ I can only declare to you, Sir Count,” said he, raising 
his head quietly and gravely, “that I shall always gratify 
the wish of a lady to speak to me ; that nothing but a 
violent determination can make out of that an insult to 
a person who was perhaps less favored ; and that I can see 
no ground for giving you satisfaction in any way what- 
ever ! ” 

A deep red spread over the other’s dark countenance, 
and a heavy moisture stood upon his forehead. “Ah! 
you will give me no satisfaction whatever, indeed ! ” he 
said, slowly bending his head. “ I have shown you the 
honor, as a member of this assembly, to put you on an 
equal footing with myself, and you will give me no satis- 


48 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


faction whatever ! Eh! bien, monsieur ; then I shall take 
my own satisfaction ! ” he continued, an evil look coming 
around his mouth ; and with one movement he tore his 
dress-sword from its sheath ; “ I will let you taste this flat 
blade, until you make an apology, on your knees, for your 
insulting conduct.” 

Only a slight motion of the shoulders was visible in 
Hugo’s figure ; he grew pale, but his eye looked full and 
firmly at his adversary. “ Do not lose sight of two things 
in your unbridled anger,” he answered, restraining forci- 
bly his excitement, “ that we are not upon your Russian 
possessions, but in the hotel of the Prussian minister; 
and that your sword might find another way than the one 
you intend.” 

“ To your knees ! ” cried the Russian, with a hoarse, 
smothered voice, and the sword twanged through tile air ; 
but the one he threatened seized it, by a quick side-mo- 
tion, and tried, with a powerful twist, to wrench it from 
the hand of the assailant : he was prepared for this, and 
made so sudden a sweep with his arm that the tightly- 
held steel threatened to shatter the referendary’s wrist. 
Anew the freed weapon rose, anew and in a closer grasp 
the attacked man seized it. As if carried away by his rage, 
the Russian made a step sideways, caught himself in one 
of the surrounding objects, and fell headlong. Hugo had 
instinctively let the sword go, so as not to be thrown to 
the earth with him, and in the next instant he saw his 
enemy lying on the ground with his own weapon thrust 
into his side. Making an inarticulate sound, the fallen 
man grasped the wound with both hands, and then sud- 
denly he seemed to lose consciousness. 

So sudden and mighty a terror had taken possession 
of the young man at this unlooked-for catastrophe, that 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


49 


for some seconds he stared as if stunned at the prostrate 
officer, but then, the situation into which he had fallen 
came with frightful clearness before his soul. What had 
given the sword its fatal direction, whether his own hand, 
or the involuntary movement of the wounded man, could 
indeed never be decided ; but it remained a matter-of-fact 
that the distinguished foreigner had fallen in an unwit- 
nessed strife with him — fallen in the house of the Prus- 
sian minister, and it w T as quite certain that he himself in 
his low position would be spared but little from the Rus- 
sian embassy’s demand for satisfaction, and, that all the 
statements that he could make would count for scarcely 
a drachm’s weight in his favor. But all that had shot 
through his brain in a second, and he had already stooped 
down with beating heart, to follow his first impulse and 
draw the sword-point from the wound. All at once the 
blood gushed forth through the rich uniform, but at the 
same time the wounded man opened his eyes. “ Bring 
help, quick ! ” he groaned, and again he evidently lost his 
consciousness. 

For a quarter of a minute Hugo stood upright, collect- 
ing his senses ; the music sounded from the saloon, bring- 
ing his condition fully to his comprehension; then he 
hastily picked up his fallen hat, and strode into the ante- 
room, giving his face as composed a look as possible. 

“ The Count Wasiliwitsch wishes to speak to you at 
once,” he said to the first lackey that he met. “ Do not 
make him wait,” he added, compelling himself into fuller 
serenity and decision, as the servant looked up as if ter- 
rified by the expression of his face. Then he nodded 
easily, and turned to go out; — as he opened the door, he 
seemed to feel every nerve palpitate under the anxiety lest 
some circumstance should bar his free passage, and only 
5 D 


50 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


when his hand was on the railing of the principal stair- 
case, when, giving himself up to his state of mind, he 
hastened with flying feet from the vacant hut gorgeous 
place, did the almost stifling impression of the last moment 
begin to leave him. 

He had reached the dimly lighted street, and, not 
wholly master of his thoughts, had hurried forward me- 
chanically towards his abode, when as if suddenly coming 
to himself, he stopped. Without definite purpose, only 
half instinctively, he had yielded to the first discovery of 
the misfortune. But many who might know him had 
seen him leave the saloon with the Count, and if his 
name was now mentioned as the author of the deed, his 
dwelling was the surest place for him to fall into the 
unavoidable fate of an arrest. For a short time it appeared 
to him as if his flight was the least hopeful way of saving 
his future ; but when he realized the disturbance that the 
event must create in the festivities, the Russian’s rank, 
and the consequent sensation, he felt how little his entire 
innocence could protect him, in the present circumstances, 
from the imminent storm. It was better so — but he dared 
not now go home ! With quick resolution he turned the 
nearest corner and went towards the “Konigsstadt”, where 
Fritz Romer had his narrow quarters in one of the hotels. 

In the common guest-chamber there was still a light, 
when he reached the house, and his first glance through 
the open door showed him, to his great relief, his friend 
among the other guests. He rose, surprised at his ap- 
proach, and then opened his eyes with anxiety at the 
expression of his face as he came in. 

“ Come to your room,” whispered Hugo, anticipating 
every question; and he turned toward the hall. In a 
half minute his friend was by him, with a waiter bearing 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


51 


lighted candles ; and, without a word, he led the way up 
stairs. But, when ’ they stood alone in the merchant’s 
room, he seized Hugo by both shoulders, and asked has- 
tily : “ What is it, Hugo ? Some misfortune has hap- 
pened to you.” 

“ A misfortune ! — a true misfortune it is, indeed ; but 
I cannot stop now for explanation,” said the referendary 
gloomily ; and, pressing his hand against his brow, he 
made a hasty stride through the room. “You are a 
faithful friend, Fritz, I know it,” he continued, stopping 
suddenly before the other ; “ and so you will do quickly, 
and without question, what I say. Get a carriage, and 
drive to my house. If anything unusual has happened 
there — mark well — you know nothing of my retreat. 
Otherwise, tell Heinrich that he must collect what- 
ever can be brought at once of my clothes and linen, and 
then both of you come back with my possessions. Now, 
quick ! ” — as Komer looked at him with staring eyes, as if 
he was standing before a terrible, incomprehensible riddle ; 
“ much may take place in a few minutes, and as soon as 
you return, you shall know all.” 

The merchant gave one more look into the excited eyes 
of his school friend, as if he desired a final conviction that 
all was really as he had heard, then he silently took his 
hat and hastily left the room. 

The referendary thi*ew himself on the sofa, and tried to 
arrange his thoughts ; but one image arose over all dis- 
guises — the face of his father, and he could not stay 
quiet, but was obliged to spring up and begin a restless 
walking through the room. It was at this moment no 
fear for his own future that moved him ; but it pained 
the depths of his heart that the condition to which he 
had come would create a wider breach than ever in the 
relations of father and son. Whatever he might be able 


52 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


to do for his own justification, he knew that it would be 
unavailing with the immovable views of the old man. 
The pleasure in aristocratic circles had been made a re- 
proach to him, who had no prospect but the slow, painful, 
official career, and whom nothing could advance but severe 
- industry and his own ability. His lighter studies, which 
he had pursued for his own instruction and pleasure, were 
called dissipations, which distracted him from his proper 
aim. And what had now happened to him, would never 
have met a young man “ pulling contentedly in his yoke.” 
He saw already the peculiarly rigid expression around his 
father’s mouth, that always indicated an irrevocable de- 
termination ; but when these features came before him, so 
alive that he thought he really saw them, then suddenly 
he was seized by the love that he actually felt for the 
severe old man, who had often shown him, deservedly, his 
roflgh side, but who had been ready to make any sacrifice 
for him ; and it seemed impossible that he could not make 
a way to his heart, and at least find justice there. What 
else might be developed for him, from this fatal evening, 
he scarcely thought as yet. 

He sat down slowly again on the sofa, and now the 
dark, proud eyes, for whose sake he sat here a fugitive, rose 
before him. He gently shook his head. “ Past ! past ! ” 
he murmured. “ Icaros, who flew out of bondage to the 
sun, and plunged into the abyss ! ” and a long, heavy sigh 
followed the words. 

Almost an hour passed, while he waited, now involun- 
tarily pursuing these reflections, now going restlessly up 
and down the room, when at last the rattle of an ap- 
proaching carriage struck his ear. He listened intently ; 
he thought he heard the sound going by ; and the various 
possibilities that might have hindered his friend in the 
fulfilment of his errand passed through his mind. Then 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


53 


the carriage stopped, and instantly the joiner’s voice 
sounded laughingly from below, as if he would spare him 
the pain of waiting. So no pursuers were upon his track ! 
In a few minutes the door opened, and a heavy trunk was 
pushed in by a servant and followed by the two school 
friends, whose faces bore the expression of having accom- 
plished a duty satisfactorily. 

“All clear, and not a trace of anything wrong at 
home,” announced Heinrich, as soon as the servant had 
gone, walking up to the referendary in a stiff attitude. 
“For the rest, punctual payment of one’s rent is a real 
blessing ; for never in my life would I have dared to 
move out in the night with such a trunk. Haven’t fin- 
ished yet.” He interrupted a motion of the one addressed. 
“ The soldier must always observe, was the word of our 
subordinate officer at every field exercise, and so I made 
the driver take a turn by the Linden, where the soiree 
was this evening. There seemed to be a general dispers- 
ing, and we had the honor of being accompanied by a 
Court equipage the whole way to the castle.” 

“For heaven’s sake, stop jesting! This is no time 
for it,” cried Hugo, passing his hand through his 
disordered hair. “ A man — a rich, high-born man — 
was stabbed at the soiree, and I shall be called the doer 
of it. There, you have everything ! ” He went quickly 
to the door, opened it, and looked out without noticing 
either the singular expression of Homer’s face — which 
seemed to waver between sudden horror and unbelief — or 
the quick, attentive glance of the joiner. “ The truth is 
that I am entirely innocent, and yet I shall be obliged to 
do penance,” he continued, beginning his hasty strides 
through the room ; and, in short, broken sentences, he 
related to the friends the principal circumstances of the 
5 * 


54 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


story. “ I do not ask you what I am to do,” lie continued, 
standing still ; “for you can scarcely judge freely of the 
influences that led to my misfortune ; but you must know 
my resolve in order to sustain me in carrying it out. Y ou, 
Fritz, guard my possessions, and take them with you to- 
morrow when you leave. I w r ill dress myself, and use the 
night in reaching on foot a distant railway-station, where 
I will meet you. Then give me refuge in your house 
until I have come to some kind of understanding with my 
father ; for, without him, I can decide on no determined 
step. You, Heinrich, stay quietly in my lodgings. Tell all 
who ask after me that I have gone on a journey ; and send 
me word every day of what happens, to Homer’s address.” 

“ Count upon me as far as I can do anything,” an- 
swered the merchant, giving him his hand with a look 
that took in the whole significance of the case ; “ and take 
my chart with you in case of need until we meet again.” 

But the joiner rubbed his nose thoughtfully, knitting his 
brows. “ If no fellow who finds everything out sooner than 
others has come into the affair, I don’t see anything so 
very dangerous,” said he. “ The young lady will avoid 
saying anything. If the man is dead, he can’t speak any 
more ; otherwise he would have to tell the exact truth, 
and the guests will scarcely have been called in.” 

Hugo made an impatient movement. “ Leave that, 
Heinrich,” he replied. “ Either I must go away, or I 
must give myself up to-morrow. There is no third way ; 
and I have no desire to subject myself to arrest, whose 
end it would be impossible to guess in the circumstances. 
For the sake of your good faith, you may report me sick at 
the office. Then the rest will reveal itself soon enough.” 

An hour after, Hugo had left the inn-yard, and jour- 
neyed into the night, finding his way along the track 
leading to his home. 


III. 


IN A GERMAN FAMILY. 

T HE early sun had overcome a light mist that an- 
nounced the beginning of autumn, and shone clearly 
into the vine-shaded window of a room, that seemed to be 
a sleeping-chamber and a boudoir combined, from the two 
snowy beds and the appliances both for the toilette and 
for living. The pieces of feminine work lying about, the 
ornaments and elegant books, gave a peculiar look of 
pleasant comfort to the reigning neatness of the room. 

Two girls were sitting not far from the window, one, 
seeming the older, with dark, keen eyes, looking into the 
open air ; while the second had taken her place on a little 
stool at her companion’s feet, laid both arms on her knee, 
and, with a half anxious expression in her mild, light- 
brown eyes, was looking up into the other’s face. 

“ I will dare it, Helen,” the latter now said, looking 
back with firm determination. “ What can he do more 
than repulse me, and, at the worst, turn me out of doors? 
I must speak ; for you can do nothing but suffer and be 
silent, like our sainted mother ; but grandmother has not 
been told yet, and if she knew everything, I don’t doubt 
that she would accomplish something. She seems to have 
thrust her own grandson from her heart and to have taken 
the school director in his stead. Hugo has no one but 
me for a spokesman now. It would be otherwise, per- 

65 


56 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


haps,” she continued, with a slight look of dejection, “ if 
Homer had hitherto shown half the courage that he does 
now, and had given his visits a decided character. Then 
he could have been a constant element of reconciliation 
between Hugo and our father : now it is too late for any- 
thing that he might have undertaken.” 

“But what ought he to have done?” said Helen, sud- 
denly sitting erect, while a dark beam came into her eye 
— an inquiring look from her sister met hers, and a bright 
flush spread over her fine features. “ There is nothing of 
what you imagine,” she said, shaking her head gently and 
letting her eyes fall, “ or else you would have known it. 
Father once asked me whether any understanding existed 
between me and Romer ; he did it so suddenly that I must 
have become pale with involuntary fright, but I could only 
answer ‘ no ’, and that ” — she raised her eyes, in which 
repressed emotion seemed to tremble, “that is the truth 
to-day also, Marie! Afterwards, father once said in 
Romer’s presence, that it was against his nature to put 
confidence in the circumstances of a speculator ; and that 
every merchant deserves the name, who hopes anything 
from chance and goes beyond simple, solid business. And 
I saw that Romer thought the words uttered only on his 
account — then, what could he have done in Hugo’s 
behalf!” 

Over the face of the other passed an expression of 
anxiety. “Am I more than three years older than you? 
and yet I appear to be the only one in the whole house 
capable of seeing,” she said, pushing her sister’s hands 
from her lap. “You and Romer still play at bashful 
school-fancies, that give way to every determined word ; 
but tell me then : will you at last marry the flattering 
school-director ? ” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 57 

“ Marie, what do you mean ? ” said the younger, looking 
as if inward terror had seized her. 

“Good, then look clearly round you, and cast away 
your childish ignorance ; it will not do in our circum- 
stances ! ” replied Marie, her dark eye looking seriously 
into her sister’s face. “Do you really believe, that the 
man would sit for whole hours by our grandmother, just 
for the old lady’s sake ? Or that he would come here 
on my account, when he knows me, and in spite of his 
sweet smiles gets as far out of my way as he can ? Or 
that he would let himself be converted to our father’s 
opinions, simply to learn from him ? See that you under- 
stand yourself and your own heart, Helen, before father 
utters his decided will and you appeal to our grand- 
mother in vain. And now I will go,” she added, rising 
quickly, “ and God grant that his resolve has not yet 
fully ripened ! ” 

“I will go with you!” cried Helen, raising herself 
slowly, and in her gentle eyes shone a newly gained cer- 
tainty, “he shall put us both out of doors if he remains 
obdurate ; for Hugo’s sake I can do more than suffer and 
be silent ! ” 

Marie had turned a surprised glance towards her; then 
she nodded as if in answer to her own thoughts, kissed the 
girl on the brow, and said : “Come ! ” 

They went out by the door into the broad corridor that 
ran through this floor of the extensive building. Here 
was the private dwelling of the counsellor Zedwitz ; — the 
ground-floor and part of the back-building held the official 
bureaux of various kinds. Audible only by the light 
rustling of their dresses, the maidens walked without a 
word through the long passage ; Marie’s head, with its 
shining dark hair, courageously uplifted, though a shade 


58 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


of sadness lay around her mouth ; Helen, nearly half a 
head shorter than her companion, her face with its bor- 
der of blonde tresses bent a little aside, almost like the 
young roe that takes its first bold step — both slender as 
young fir-trees, their fine figures closely draped in simple, 
but faultlessly neat garments. At the end of the row of 
rooms was the entrance to the private cabinet of the 
counsellor, through an ante-room cut off of the corridor, 
and here Marie cautiously opened the door. 

A tall, firmly built figure rose from a side-table cov- 
ered with papers, and on recognizing those who had 
entered, stood in a respectful attitude. The long gray 
whiskers, the broad bald head and the deep lines in the 
face, betokened advanced age, but the keen eyes under 
the bushy white brows betrayed an inner freshness yet 
undiminished. 

“Have you spoken to our father yet, Mangold?” asked 
Marie, cautiously lowering her tone. 

“He has not yet rung,” answered the one addressed, 
half aloud, and he shook his head confidentially ; “ but for 
an hour he has been walking about in there, and at inter- 
vals seating himself sideways at his writing-desk — I 
could hear the turning chair squeak. You have come 
on account of — ? ” said he hesitatingly and with a sudden 
look of anxiety, exchanging a glance of comprehension 
with the girl ; “ I think, Fraulein, you have come not a 
minute too soon, if I know things here — it has never 
been so oppressive since the time when your gracious 
mother died ! ” 

A curious, almost rigid look came into Marie’s eyes at 
the old man’s last words. “ Come ! ” she said, - grasping 
her sister’s hand, and she went with her to the door just 
before them. 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


59 


The counsellor was standing with his hands clasped 
behind his back, in the middle of the spacious cabinet 
that showed little more than the most ordinary comfort, 
his face was directed towards the window, and at the 
sound of the opening door he turned quickly and with 
indignation. He was scarcely of medium height, and not 
especially stout, but in his grayish blue eye, in his broad 
brow shaded by thin hair, and in his marked features, 
was a sort of inward assuredness, that compelled respect 
at the first glance. At the appearance of his daughters 
he stood up stiffly, and seemed as if in unwelcoming 
expectation ; but Marie met fully the gaze directed on 
her, and went up to him with a light step. 

“We wished to say good morning to you, and to speak 
a sincere, friendly word with you, father ! ” she began 
with a slight tremor of nervous agitation in her voice. 
“We know that Hugo is in the city and has asked you 
for an interview ; but we know too, that you were form- 
erly angry with him, and we are afraid that you may all 
the more hastily repulse him now. Now we beg you 
from our hearts, father — if our mother were alive she 
would do it, but he has only us — speak with him, father, 
he believes that he will be able to justify himself to you, 
and a hearing is never denied to the worst criminal, which 
he is not!” 

The counsellor had listened to her without a motion. 
“I will not do it, child,” he said now — not harshly, not 
coldly repellent, but with the serenity of invincible 
resolve: “and that you may not think me needlessly 
hard, I will tell you why. The young man has no heart, 
either for his father, or for the honor of the name which 
he bears with us. I knew that the artificial position which 
his idleness preferred to his real one, would some day 


60 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


1 break down terribly, like everything unnatural ; I knew 
I also, that his inclination to take up every new and 
I modern notion at the expense of a solid, tried foundation, 
must at some time become the misfortune of his life. I 
have endeavored to make his views clear, and I hoped, 
at least for a time, that if not his better judgment, then 
his respect and consideration for me would be some bridle 
to his desires. He robbed me long ago of this hope, and 
what has now realized my worst fears is only a conse- 
quence of his failure in piety and a true heart. But 
where these are wanting, every new hope is a weakness. 
Now, our name, on which as yet no stain has ever rested, 
will be carried through the country in the reports of the 
criminal court and in the newspapers; the honorable 
father must go among his companions to meet cool pity, 
and every ill-bred man against whom I may say a word, 
can hold my own son up before my eyes. I shall bear it 
as I have borne worse things, but he shall not come into 
my presence, at least. So enough of this, children, every 
word further is wasted ! ” With a brief inclination of 
his head he turned again to the window. 

“ But father — !” Marie began anew, and in her tone 
trembled all the emotion that was oppressing her ; the 
glance that the counsellor turned hastily upon her cut 
off the rest of her words. “ It is enough, children ! ” he 
repeated, dwelling on every syllable, and then he went 
with firm steps to his writing-desk ; his daughter, with a 
dark cloud upon her brow, drooped her head, caught the 
hand of her sister, who during the whole scene had been 
watching immovably every change in their father’s face, 
and together they left the room. 

Mangold was standing in the ante-room, his gaze fixed 
intently on them as they came out ; Marie only shook her 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


61 


head sadly, and silently opened the door into the hall ; 
but when this was closed behind the girls, Helen sud- 
denly stopped. “ Did he not say all that only on his own 
account? Was there anything of love for Hugo or for us 
in it?” she asked. 

“ Be happy, that you have just felt that ! ” answered 
the elder, and with her head bent she went on. 

Not far from the room of the maidens, and separated 
from it only by the sleeping chamber of the counsellor’s 
mother-in-law, was a little reception-room, which the old 
lady had chosen as her favorite and most comfortable 
retreat, and there she now sat by the window in a soft 
easy-chair, while opposite her a young man had thrown him- 
self down with the easy carelessness of a familiar friend. 

“ Y ou may call me rude, gracious lady, but surely not 
singular ! ” he said lightly, and his mouth formed itself 
into a pleased smile ; “ rude, in not remembering the 
early hour ; but it is not at all singular that, when I see 
you already in your place, I should come to bring you a 
‘good morning’!” 

The old lady laid her head, whose thick gray hair es- 
caped from under the pointed cap, back against her 
chair. “ What interest can you feel in a grandmother, 
who has nothing but plain, household knowledge ? ” she 
asked, letting her dark, still beautiful eyes rest laughingly 
on his face. “ You are indeed a singular young man, in 
giving to old ladies an attention that the young girls 
scarcely ever receive from you. Every quarter of an 
hour spent with an old creature like me must be a sac- 
rifice for youth.” 

He had permitted his gaze to rest unwaveringly on 
hers, while his features took an expression of friendly 
seriousness. “ Old ! what, then, do you consider old ? ” 
6 


62 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


he asked, lowering his voice. “ Where the womanly heart 
is still fresh in feeling, old means only clear, purified, 
gentle. There are even young women whom I might call 
old in this noble sense ; while the man, made of coarser 
material, often, in physical old age, is still unable to 
subdue his evil passions. As I hold women, in their 
peculiar spiritual life, to be the ennobling principle of 
humanity, so, in conversation with them, I regard not the 
number of their years, but only the clearness of their 
minds, which, with an instinct that we men lost long ago, 
always seize the right, and could exercise a mighty influ- 
ence on mankind, if only the true destiny of women were 
realized in its full meaning. The middle ages, with its 
I culture of women, the American system, when it distin- 
j guished the position of its ladies, knew well what a refin- 
ing, softening element they were calling into being ; and 
if, in our German society, the cultivation of women had 
full justice, things would be very different in our domes- 
tic life, and our whole modern endeavor, that shuts out 
entirely the world of feeling, that will give its rights only 
to bare intelligence, and undertakes to gauge metaphy- 
sics with the measure of the narrow human brain, would 
not have been on its present road. I do not possess the 
conquering might of a universal reformer, and so I make 
myself a little world according to my own opinions. I 
have elevated female culture in my own life, and I know 
that I can do nothing better for my own ennobling. 
There, you have it all, gracious lady. Young maidens 
are like fermenting must. There is, to be sure, an excep- 
tional nature here and there,” he continued slowly, drop- 
ping his eyes, “ that is spared the transition period, that 
shuts itself from the light in pure, quiet self-knowledge.” 
He stopped, as if pursuing his thoughts. 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


63 


“You are, notwithstanding, a singular man,” said the 
old lady, holding out her little shrivelled hand with a 
look of silent appreciation ; “ but I think I understand 
you, and — I must tell you that I love you right well.” 

He grasped the delicate fingers in both his hands, and 
raised his eyes to her with a melting expression, when the 
door opened, admitting the two sisters ; and already, at 
the first sound of their coming, he had resumed his pre- 
vious position. The massively cut mouth met the girls 
with a smile of greeting, and the eyes, in an instant’s 
time, perceived every detail of their appearance, and then 
remained fixed upon Helen’s fresh, finely developed 
form. 

“ I have the start of other people this morning,” said 
he, putting on a manner of confident raillery. 

“We have not learned how to make our career,” said 
Marie dryly ; and, without changing a feature, she took 
up a piece of sewing. But Helen had directed her eyes 
to him, as if, for the first time, she wished to consider him 
intently ; then she turned to the old lady, and kissed her. 
“It is not true. Grandmama,” she said, “no stranger 
could ever have the start of me with you ? ” and the old 
lady raised her head, astonished at the tone of the ques- 
tion. “Who takes a joke so seriously, foolish child?” 
she answered, laughingly stroking her hair. “ Are not 
you the nestling that I brought up ? ” 

“ I have had a bad dream, grandmama.” 

“Dreamings are but seemings, girl. Only ask the 
school-director here.” 

“ Who, nevertheless, has many a dream that he be- 
lieves firmly,” said Marie, without looking up. 

A single dark gleam shot from the man’s eye toward 
the speaker. Then he turned to the old lady with the 


64 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


same soft smile as before. “ Truly, I believe in my good 
dreams ; for they always indicate peace and rest,” said 
he. “ Bad dreams are lies in themselves, because they 
come from a disturbed, troubled soul ; and so, Fraulein 
Helen,” he concluded, stretching out his broad hand, 
let us dream only the best things of one another.” There 
was a quiet significance in his words, and the old lady 
raised her eyes toward the maiden in smiling expectancy ; 
but a slight pallor came upon Helen’s face. “ What I 
consider the best is, perhaps, far from being so to you,” 
she said, slightly drawing herself up ; and then she 
turned to her sister. The school-director let his hand fall 
upon his knee, and bit his lip ; but the grandmother had 
already laid her fingers lightly on his hand. “ Restless 
must ! You have expressed it yourself,” said her sup- 
pressed, gentle voice ; “ but you would not have to wait 
long for her to grow clear.” 

When the sisters left his cabinet, the counsellor, taking 
from his writing-desk a letter ready sealed, grasped the 
bell-cord, and immediately after its sound the old office- 
servant entered the room, and stationed himself stiffly 
near the door. 

“ Take this paper, Mangold, to the place where you 
received the letter last evening,” said the counsellor 
briefly and coldly, “ but I now forbid you ever to allow 
yourself to be used as messenger again, from that quarter, 
to me ! ” He laid the envelope on the table and turned 
to the window. 

Mangold only held his head straighter, and there was 
a slight tremor under his gray moustache, but he made 
no other movement, and after a short pause Zedwitz 
turned his face to him hastily. “ Don’t you understand 
me?” he asked impatiently. 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


65 


“I understand, Herr counsellor/’ answered the old 
man, “but I would say with all respect, that I can not 
carry that letter away from here ! ” 

The counsellor raised his head with a look of flashing 
keenness, and stepped a little nearer the speaker ; then a 
dark cloud came over his brow. “You are right, this has 
nothing to do with the public service, and you can go,” 
he said slowly, “ in future I will define the limits of your 
duty clearly enough ! ” 

“ It is not that, Herr counsellor, and you know it ! ” 
answered Mangold with a motion of his eye-brows ; “ but 
for the sake of the days that will come, I would not have 
that letter leave the house. — You can command me to 
be silent, and I must obey,” he said quickly, as Zedwitz 
looked up with a repellent gesture, “ but it is now forty 
years since the young Mangold first groomed Lieutenant 
Zedwitz’s horse, and it must be nearly thirty, since he 
assisted at the reception of the gracious young Mistress, 
and became an old piece of furniture in the new house, 
and Mangold has never ventured on a w T ord. But there 
was one evening, when the Master said despairingly to his 
servant : ‘Mangold, can a man become a sinner, just by 
holding stringently to right and honor?’ That was on the 
evening before the funeral of your gracious wife. Then 
Mangold had only tearful eyes as answer ; but it seems to 
me as if just such an evening will surely come again, and 
therefore I must speak now and say : Herr counsellor, 
think of it, this is your only son, whom you will thrust 
out ; think that youth has not every virtue, and that we 
also were once young — ! ” 

A short commanding motion of the hand, with which 
Zedwitz turned away, made the speaker hesitate; the 
counsellor walked quickly across the room, and then stop- 
6 * E 


66 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


ped opposite the tall, compact figure, fixing a sharp, clear 
look upon his face. “So for thirty years this old man 
has been with me, but all that this long period must have 
shown him of the nature of a man who never goes back 
from what he has recognized as right, is less for him than 
the single hour in which he saw the weakness of a soul 
steeped in sorrow. Truly, there are times when even the 
strongest may doubt himself and the justice of his con- 
duct, when he grasps after his fellow-man as a help in 
his need — but mark well, old man, in such hours the 
upright man only works his way to greater clearness and 
firmness in his own convictions, and your reminiscences 
of a past season of trouble may well embitter my heart 
still more, but not in the least change one of my well- 
considered steps. And now, Mangold, we have done with 
all such points ! You have reminded me of our long con- 
nection — good ! here lies the letter, you yourself may 
decide whether all shall remain as it has been!” 

He turned again to the window. In the face of the old 
man the moustache and eye-brows testified to a play of 
conflicting emotions, until at last a compulsory resigna- 
tion seemed to gain the victory, and he went slowly up to 
the table. “Is there anything else, Herr counsellor?” 
he asked, taking the letter, and his voice seemed to break 
as he spoke. 

“Not at present ! ” was the quiet answer ; but when the 
door shut behind the servant, Zedwitz looked round sud- 
denly, and seeing that the letter was gone, he began again 
to walk slowly up and down the room. Many images 
appeared to waken within him ; now a rigid, immovable 
expression came upon his mouth, now the severity of his 
face was softened to a look of quiet pain, and then he 
would stand still, looking down in self-forgetfulness until 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


67 

a new idea sent a deep bitterness into his mien and urged 
him to motion again. At last, after a longer time, he 
stopped and smoothed his thin hair. “I must tell her 
what is necessary, myself, even if the girls have already 
spoken ! ” he murmured ; for another second he looked 
down as if meditating, and then with his head erect he 
left the cabinet, taking his way to the grandmother’s 
room. 

He entered it just as the school-director was making a 
movement toward going, and, at his appearance, a gleam 
of relief came on the face of Zedwitz. “Don’t go so 
soon,” he said, giving his hand first to the old lady and 
then to the guest. “ It will do me good to have a little 
talk with you. Now we have a living example to what 
end the modern fashion of life and opinion can bring our 
young people,” he continued, with a gloomy countenance. 
“ A young man, who found his professional studies tire- 
some, and, instead of them, pursued the piquant natural 
sciences, so called — who, in the place of every spiritual 
truth, substituted the coarsest materialism — who despised 
his own natural position, and made for himself a specious 
existence in the circles above him — who laughed at the 
views of experienced men like his father, and gave him- 
self up as much as possible to many fashionable foUies, as 
one thing must develop, logically, from the other. Now, 
Herr director, it will not surprise you, for you have long 
shared my own fears.” 

“ But, father,” said Marie’s entreating voice at this in- 
stant, and a painful reproach fell from the girl’s eyes 
into his; but a cold, repelling shake of the head an- 
swered her. 

“ Am I to keep things silent,” he said, “ that will be 


68 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


in every one’s mouth soon enough? Am I not to be 
allowed to relieve my heart to intimate friends?” 

“But whom and what is it all about?” asked the old 
lady, who, at the beginning of the conversation, had 
raised her head in anxiety, that evidently increased. 

“ Do you really know nothing of it, mother ? I hoped 
the girls would have spared me the first relation,” he an- 
swered, in a peculiarly expressive tone, while the school- 
director put his hat aside, and fastened his gaze on the 
speaker. 

“Nothing evil of Hugo ?” she asked, with a trembling 
glance. 

“ Of Hugo ! ” assented the counsellor, when the door 
opened noisily, and pale, but with eager, excited eyes, he 
of whom they spoke stood upon the threshold. He cast 
a single hasty look through the room, and then strode up 
to the counsellor. 

“ Father, I must speak with you. You dare not reject 
me, for I do not deserve it ! ” he cried ; and the whole 
force of his emotion quivered in his voice. But, in the 
next instant, he noticed the presence of a stranger, and 
he stopped. “ Let us speak alone together only five min- 
utes, father,” he added, compelling himself to a quieter 
tone. 

The school-director had risen to leave the room, but 
the counsellor seized his arm. “ Remain, my friend,” he 
said, his features seeming to turn to ice. “ I have here 
no secret.” But, with a decided refusal, the guest turned 
to the door ; and, scarcely had it closed behind him, when 
the old official took a step tow T ard his son, who stood half 
a head taller than himself. “ I still have the ordering of 
those to whom my door shall open or remain shut,” said 
he ; and it was a stony look that sunk into the young 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


69 


man’s eyes. “Go!” he added, raising his hand com- 
mandingly toward the door. 

A sudden trembling seemed to run over the powerful 
frame of the referendary. “ Father ! ” he answered, lift- 
ing his hands with the tone of a pleading child. 

“ Go !” Zedwitz repeated ; and a sound of threatening 
-warning echoed in the word. 

“ But, good son, one does not drive a child from the 
parental house in this fashion,” suddenly said the voice 
of the grandmother, while a painfully suppressed sobbing 
was heard from the maidens’ side of the room. “ He says 
himself that he does not deserve it. Whatever has hap- 
pened to him, so inexorable a denial of every word is 
unjust. We are all sinners, good son.” 

The old lady had risen, and she stood near her chair, 
-with her hand resting on its arm, quite another mood 
shining in her eyes than the gentle friendliness of a few 
minutes ago. 

In the counsellor’s face no feature moved — only a 
slight, nervous tremor was visible around his mouth ; but 
Hugo stretched his hand to the speaker, as if to stop her. 
“No word for me, grandmother,” he cried, excitedly. 
“If the pressure of my own love and anxiety, which 
brought me here, can not open the father’s heart for the 
son, then all else is in vain. Father, once more,” he con- 
tinued, raising his hands again, “ I desire nothing but 
a brief, clear interview with you ; and I know that then 
you will judge otherwise than now.” 

But the counsellor had turned to the old lady with his 
icy look unchanged, and said: “You do not know, mo- 
ther, that my duty as an officer of the crown, already 
requires me to give the young man up to the courts of 
justice, and that it must be against my conscience to 


70 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


know anything of his abode. So it would be well for the 
present scene to end as soon as possible.” 

The grandmother looked half terrified, half doubtfully, 
from the fixed eye of her son-in-law to that of her grand- 
son, and back again ; but Hugo stood erect, as if in a de- 
cided resolve. 

“ Your conscience shall not be burdened through me, 
father,” he said quietly, though the trembling of his 
voice betrayed the tumult in his soul. “ I will go ; and 
may the recollection of to-day never be heavier to you 
than to me ! ” Then he turned quickly to the old lady. 
“Grandmother, keep me in your heart. I have done 
nothing wrong that a little real love could not easily for- 
give. You know that I have never deceived you ;” and 
as, before the glance that came from the depths of his 
soul, she stretched out her arms to him lovingly, in spite 
of the still uncertain expression of her eyes, his sisters 
threw themselves upon his neck — Marie with a bitter, 
almost convulsive sobbing, that she strove vainly to sup- 
press ; while Helen whispered to him, among streaming 
tears : “ Do not grieve, Hugo : he only loves himself and 
what he calls his honor ; but count on us, as far as our 
power reaches.” In the next minute he had torn him- 
self from their embrace; and painfully mastering his 
overpowering weakness, he rushed from the room. 

He had left the house, and hastened down the broad, 
sunny street before he was quite aware of the objects 
around him. He could scarcely fear meeting familiar 
faces, for, since his school days, he had made only short 
visits to his father’s house ; yet he turned involuntarily 
into the narrowest passages, in order to remain fully con- 
cealed, and, by the crooked streets of the old city, he 
sought a way to Romer’s place of business. He had 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


71 


already spent two days hidden at his friend’s house. He 
had not wished to take the first step against his father’s 
decision without every support. He wanted first to have 
an understanding with his sisters, and to bring the old 
Mangold into his confidence ; but, at last, after the de- 
cided letter had been sent, in which he thought the whole, 
full heart of a true son was displayed, the uncertainty of 
the result would not let him rest ; and following only his 
own impatience, he had that morning ventured into the 
neighborhood of the paternal dwelling. 

There he had met the old servant, whose cast-down 
appearance announced to him his destiny even sooner 
than the letter that he gave him from his father, which 
stung him to his last useless effort. 

Over all the images with which the remembrance of 
the scene just passed filled his head stood one clear 
thought : that no other way remained to him than to go 
back to Berlin, and give himself up voluntarily to justice. 
He was not yet able to try himself farther, and think of 
the remote result ; but he felt, with a sort of relief, that 
at least the painful uncertainty of the last few days would 
be ended. 

As he approached Romer’s house, which combined the 
counting-room, the lodgings, and the dwelling of father 
and son, he saw his friend, apparently looking for him, 
standing at the door. 

“ A decision ? ” he asked, glancing inquiringly into the 
eyes of the new-comer. 

“ A decision,’’ replied the referendary, gloomily, enter- 
ing the house. “ Y ou shall be rid of me to-day, Fritz ; 
and to-morrow I expect to have well-guarded lodgings in 
Berlin. I have forced a few words from him. He consid- 
ered it his duty as an official to give me up to justice; 


72 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


but I can do that myself in a way that will be more 
agreeable to me. I ought to have expected nothing else ; 
but my own heart made me blind.” 

They had silently ascended the stairs to the upper 
story. “ During your absence news has arrived from 
Berlin from young Mangold,” began Bonier at last, 
opening the door of one of the rooms. “ Perhaps you 
will find something consoling in it.” He went quickly 
before his friend, and gave him a letter that was lying on 
the table ; but Hugo extended his hand slowly. 

“ Consoling ! ” he echoed, after a glance at the envel- 
ope. “ I could scarcely tell at this moment what would 
console me. And if it were said to me now that I had 
dreamed my whole misfortune, yet the last hour is a reality 
that casts a fatal shadow over all my future. I see no lon- 
ger an object in torturing myself by a calling, in which 
I have just about as much pleasure as a horse in his daily 
work. See, Fritz, the only satisfaction that I have ever 
found in it was the consciousness of seeming to my father 
a well-behaved son, who let no extravagance bring him 
into debt, who went in the ordained track, and spent his 
allowance in the appointed way. That is at an end ; and 
no necessity could move me to receive a penny for 
my subsistence after my father’s act of to-day. If 
I can not live on the narrow Income of my maternal in- 
heritance, which up to this time I have used for my so- 
called dissipations, I must try to employ the capital 
in gaining some position that will support me — the 
future that I had hoped for has fallen into ruins among 
to-day’s events. What else is to come, will be seen as 
soon as I have given myself up to justice, and if there is 
anything consoling for me, it is my certainty as to my 
next step, without which I cannot think of the future at all. 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


73 


For you, Fritz,” he continued in a more lively tone as if 
the free confidence had relieved him; “for you perhaps 
a myrtle will spring out of my present ruin ; — without 
any sentimentality ! ” he interrupted himself, as his 
friend’s troubled face was raised to contradict him, “I feel 
now, that with my father’s rigid and perhaps mistaken 
way of thinking, a breach must have come between us 
sooner or later, even without the present cause! Helen, 
seems wonderfully w T akened up, and brought to a just 
view of the circumstances. Let her find herself firmly 
supported, Fritz, and I think my father will come to 
himself, if he has no other alternative than turning a 
second child out of doors.” 

“ Do think now of your own perplexities, and read 
Mangold’s letter,” answered Homer, laying his hand on 
his friend’s shoulder ; “ I was almost sure how everything 
would happen, and I may at least advise you ; in all the 
chances of life you may count on me, Hugo, as one can 
count only on a friend and brother ! ” 

The referendary took his hat from his heated brow, 
opened the envelope, and unfolded a closely written sheet. 
He read, while the young merchant walked slowly up 
and down the room : 

“ Dear friend, and highly respected Herr Re- 
ferendary: Most wonderful stories, — but the soldier 
must know how to help himself in all cases, as our under- 
officer used to say in field-service. Well, the affair with 
the Russian count is known everywhere, and the papers 
have related it, but so disguised, that I saw immediately 
that the police had agreed on quietness, so as not to 
frighten the perpetrator out of the snare. It wasn’t entirely 
agreeable on the first day, at my post in our lodgings, for 
I was scarcely out of bed when I had several visits of a 
suspicious nature. First, it was a serving-man with a face 
7 


74 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


curiously like a policeman’s, he only wanted to know 
whether the Herr Referendary lived there, and when he 
could speak with him. But a fellow can’t be caught so 
slyly. I could not tell him any hour, but I was ex- 
tremely attentive to him, and he went away. Before 
mid-day came a messenger from the court of justice, who 
was extremely urgent about some commission from one 
of the directors, or the like, and he went straight through 
into your sleeping-room. A very peculiar commission 
seemed to look out of his very button-holes, and I knew 
enough at the first glance. When he saw the empty bed, 
he would gladly have examined me, but I let him go with 
the good advice to look further himself and not let him- 
self be deceived. 

“At noon they were talking about the Russian count 
in our eating-house. There were two of the officer’s ser- 
vants there, who had brought the news. They declared 
that the doer of the crime was known, but that for the 
sake of two distinguished persons, all the measures were 
to be taken secretly. There were dumplings and horse- 
radish on the table, but I should not have known it if 
the horse-radish had not nearly choked me while I was 
listening to the men. 

“I had not been in the lodgings quite an hour after 
dinner, when a third man arrived, inquired politely after 
the Herr Referendary, and nodded at my answer, as if he 
knew already everything that I would, and wouldn’t say. 
Afterward he considered me attentively, and he must 
have liked my face better than my coat, for he nodded 
again, and said he thought he could trust me with a 
message for the young gentleman, but I must give it 
verbatim. ‘ If Herr Hugo Zedwitz,’ said he, ‘ wishes now 
to make a journey to some other place than Switzerland, 
/ there is a beautiful spot whose name is written here. A 
lady friend sends him word of it.’ Thereupon he gave me 
the card that I enclose, and when I asked about the un- 
known gibberish of the name, where it was to be found, 
he said as peacefully as if it concerned a journey to Char- 
lottenburg: ‘In America’ ! Then he nodded again quite 
pleasantly, and went out. At first I would have laughed 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


75 


at tlie odd incident, but all at once a peculiar thought 
struck me. Whether this might not be good advice from 
any one who knew how the case stood about the Russian 
count? And a lady friend — ! Of course I have nothing 
to say of that ; but one thing I might add : if any one 
would willingly make such a journey with you, it is I. 
Where there is trouble here, a joiner has to be in it, and 
over the sea there is just as much to gain. But that is 
by the way ; even if the provisions w T ere nearly at an end, 
and a man like me couldn’t support himself by skill and 
strength, then he would be taken care of, as factotum. 
Verily, Heinrich, thou art a scamp ! 

“ I would say, farther, that, to-day, as I write this, 
everything looks to me as if the snare is kept open here, 
as still as a mouse, till the bird shall fly into it. The 
Russian count is said to be as good as dead ; but nothing 
is told clearly about it, as is usual in accounts of mur- 
ders. Meanwhile, whoever has a good eye for police- 
men, could relate various things of the figures that roam 
around our house in the evening. I will say nothing ; 
but it is by no means safe here. And so let me know, 
dear Hugo, how it is at home, and what you intend to 
do ; but, in any case, don’t forget the beautiful spot in 
America. 

“ Your faithful factotum, 

“Heinrich Mangold.” 

Before the referendary finished the letter, he seized the 
card which had fallen on the floor, and read, in firmly 
printed letters, “ John Winter, Oakhill,” and, underneath, 
in an abbreviation that was unintelligible to him, the 
designation of the place. Then he finished the pages, 
folded the letter up, as if in deep thought, and remained 
standing so until Romer came up to him, and saying : 
“ What is it, Hugo?” laid his hand on his shoulder. “ A 
clear question and a decided answer, Fritz.” The speaker 
now raised his head, and in his eyes gleamed a living 
fire. “ Can I immediately have several hundred thalers, 


76 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


if I give you full power over my inheritance from my 
mother ? ” 

“Undoubtedly! But what is it, if I may know?” an- 
swered the young merchant, with evident excitement. 

“ A dead past and a new-born future, Fritz. * I am go- 
ing to America!” cried the referendary, as if he was 
casting a mountain from his breast. “ You shall know 
everything — more than you suppose ; but first let me 
settle my own ideas. Go now, and in half an hour come 
back.” He showed his friend to the door, and threw 
himself on the sofa, opening the letter for the second 
time. 


IV. 


IN AN AMERICAN FAMILY. 

T the top of the hill lay the country-house, which, 



-lX in the semi-Italian taste of its construction and 
with its surrounding pleasure-grounds, w T as well entitled 
to the name of “ villa,” though here it passed under the 
more modest title of a cottage. 

From the foot of the hill a thick growth of broad- 
boughed oaks reached half-way up the height, shutting 
out the domain from the wide expanse of settled country. 
A carefully-kept drive wound through the grounds to the 
top of the eminence near the house, and the traveller who 
went up this road, for the first time, was forced to stop 
here in silent astonishment. At the end of the flat sum- 
mit the ground sloped steeply away, and below flowed the 
broad, silver stream of the river, that for some distance, 
divided the Southern from the Northern States of Amer- 
ica, traversed by sail-boats and by the puffing steamers. 
On the further shore, as far as the eye could reach, was 
an enlivening panorama of countless villas and little 
towns, looking out, white and pretty, among green vine- 
yards and fruit-gardens, bright with the tints of autumn. 
The side of the country-house that commanded this view 
was regarded as the front. By a short turn, the road 
wound around the house, and ended in a broad plateau, 
from which an open staircase led up to the portico. 

7 * 77 


78 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


Down the terraced bank, which was planted with orna- 
mental shrubbery, a flight of easy steps descended to the 
river ; and below, in a narrow, artfully constructed bay, 
was dancing a little pleasure-boat. 

In one of the high rooms on the ground-floor, that, in 
its thick carpets and rich damask curtains, its soft sofas 
and easy-chairs, the handsomely carved piano and the 
marble chimney-piece, showed the fulness of American 
comfort, a young lady was rocking herself negligently in 
a luxurious chair, seeming scarcely to notice an elderly, 
carefully dressed man, who measured the ground before 
her with impatient steps. “ It must come to an end, 
Jessy,” he began, standing still before the girl ; “ and I 
ask you most earnestly to renounce, for once, your strange 
caprices. Mr. Graham presses for a decided answer, to 
which he has entire right, and I may well require from 
my daughter the needful respect toward me, who have the 
affair to sustain, and, still more, the proper regard for 
her own good name. You cannot, as an honorable young 
lady, play for nearly a year with the affections of an ear- 
nest man, without doing justice to them at last.” 

The maiden quickly raised her beautiful head. “Play? 
Play with affection, sir ? ” she asked, while her dark eye 
rested seriously upon him. “Have I ever yet, in my 
whole life, given any man reason for any hopes with re- 
gard to me ? I have endured the society of the gentleman 
of whom you speak, because it was yourself, father, who 
brought him into our house as an almost daily guest. 
Out of respect for you, I have been perhaps less brusque 
to him than to many another, who has made me the sub- 
ject of his speculations; yet his own feelings must tell 
him that there can be not a thought of a nearer ap- 
proach.” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


79 


“ And therefore you bore quite willingly a journey to 
Europe in his company, a journey, that here in the eyes 
of all reasonable people passed as evidence of your nearer 
relations,” answered the old man, beginning his walk 
again with a slight shrug of his shoulders. 

She sat up quickly, and her face grew a shade paler. 
“ That reproach did not come from your own convictions, 
sir ! ” she said, a singular light gleaming in the depths of 
her eyes ; “ or you force yourself to an admission that 
can easily be made into fetters for me. I will not recall 
to you the remembrance of how I became your compan- 
ion : yours, and that of no other man, sir ! but I assure 
you simply, that such an argument is the very worst 
weapon against my resolution.” 

“ And may I know this resolution, Miss ? ” he asked, 
standing still. “ Within the next hour I expect the man, 
who until now, through your own conduct, has been con- 
sidered my future son-in-law. It is to be hoped you will 
not say that the aim of Graham’s visits, and the hopes 
which he founded on our common journey, were unknown 
to you, even if they remained unspoken ; probably you 
will not set me down as a deceiver, Miss, if I, who for 
many reasons could but desire this alliance, created the 
fairest hopes for myself out of your endurance of Gra- 
ham’s attentions. And so, perhaps you may be able to 
perceive on whose side the reproach of false play ought 
to lie, under the circumstances that are now only too evi- 
dent.” 

“ Have I,” she answered, rising slowly to her full height, 
“ have I, in opposition to all these unuttered things that 
are to be laid to my charge, not given you at various 
times the repeated declaration, that I would never enter 
into nearer relations with any of these men in our circle 


80 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


of society ? Has not that been sufficiently clear and defi- 
nite to protect me from misapprehension now ? ” 

“Pshaw! school-girl ideas,” he cried, passing into a 
lighter tone. “ But you are twenty years old, Jessy; the 
imaginary lovers, made according to each taste, do not 
fall from heaven, and every reasonable man would count 
on such nonsense coming to an end. May I know, at 
least, the cause of this remarkable ungraciousness?” 

“ I will have no man, sir,” she answered, quietly, but 
in the deepest tones of her sonorous voice, “ whose ways 
of thinking and feeling revolve only around the dollar: 
who takes a w T ife as a speculation, and shows his interest 
in her only by the sums that he spends yearly on her 
outw r ard adornment. I will have no man, sir, who 
knows nothing of a real union with her who is to be 
his vufe, but cares only to have his own comfort attended 
to ; whose v T hole aim in life is contained in what he calls 
his business : to v T hom his wife stands in the second or 
third rank, and who measures everything that concerns 
humanity by the rule of his trade. I will have no man, 
sir, with whom a woman of feeble soul must pine aw r ay, 
v r hom a woman of strong heart must pity, and a woman 
of cultivated intellect must despise ! ” 

She sat down again quietly in the rocking-chair, v T hile 
an expression of mingled bitterness and scorn appeared 
on her father’s smooth face. “And this burden of con- 
tempt,” said he, “falls of course, also upon old John Win- 
ter, who has won his property only by his exclusive atten- 
tion to business, and his full valuation of the ‘ dollar.’ ” 
“You are my father, sir, to w T hom I owe respect and 
consideration,” she answered, drooping her head slightly, 
“and not the man to whom I am to give up my whole 
future.” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


81 


A look of anxiety stood on his brow, as he took another 
turn through the room, and then stopped again before her. 
“And yet, child,” he said, almost with an accent of ten- 
derness, “ it is the dollar alone that decides a man’s posi- 
tion. How if I should to-day lose my property, and per- 
haps yours, that is employed in my business?” 

“ I should have the power of making an existence for 
myself, father, and then, perhaps, find some man who 
would approach me, not with views of speculation.” 

“ And I, Jessy, and your brother and sister ? ” It was 
a singularly inquiring, anxious look that met the girl’s 
eye ; she gazed steadily into her father’s face, and a sud- 
den misgiving seemed to waken within her. 

“Speak to me without preparation, father, if you have 
anything to tell me,” she said, and the strange tone that 
had hitherto characterized her speech, seemed to give 
place to an expression of increasing sympathy. 

Winter took a chair and seated himself near his 
daughter. “I could prove to you, Jessy,” he began, 
lowering his voice, “ that Graham is the one who has the 
least idea of speculation in wooing you. We have been 
for a long time in friendly business relations, but while 
he has met with good fortune, I have gone back in the 
last few years, without daring to let it be known. I con- 
fess to you, that it was often only Graham’s assistance 
that freed me from serious difficulties. Our business in- 
terests now go so naturally hand-in-hand, that the advan- 
tage of a closer connection has long been realized ; but I 
was not in a condition to offer enough ready money to 
correspond in any degree with his pecuniary ability. 
Take the single acknowledgment, that the property of 
your aunt, which has come to you, has formed my only 
support for nearly a year, but that even this has developed 

F 


82 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


into nothing that could meet my need of disposable funds. 
In spite of this condition, into which only a series of sin* 
gle misfortunes brought me, Graham declared to me in a 
frank, mutual conversation, that I and my experience 
would satisfy him, provided your property could remain 
in our common business ; that, if he could win you as a 
wife, he would allow me the full share of an equal part- 
ner. This would be a new and safe defence against the 
ruin that, sooner or later, will otherwise burst upon me. 
I could have told you these things long ago, Jessy/’ he 
continued, looking down. “I could have told you that 
in the intended relations it would be but a little thing to 
me to regain what I had lost, and above all, to make se- 
cure the future of your brother and sister, which is now 
my most serious care — if I had been willing to exercise 
any influence whatever over you, and if I had not hoped 
that everything would fashion itself for good in a natural 
way. Now, when the whole figure of our family depends 
on the next quarter of an hour, I am really obliged to 
speak ; yet it might not have happened so, if I had not 
shown to Graham decided hopes, which from your con- 
duct towards him I had thought I might entertain.” 

The girl had allowed her quiet, steady gaze to rest on 
his features, and only a transient change of color betok- 
ened her emotion. “ That is the dollar,” she now said, 
half aloud, as if speaking to herself, and she rose quickly, 
going to the window, and looking across to the further 
shore, bathed in the evening light. Winter looked after 
her with intense anxiety. 

When after a time she turned to him again, her face 
was pale, and the light seemed to have faded from her 
deep-blue eyes. “And so you can swear to me, father, by 
all that is sacred,” she said, slowly approaching him, while 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


83 


he rose as she came near, “that the future of my brother 
and sister, and your own, depends on my present resolu- 
tion ? that you have not painted the case in any other 
colors than are consistent with the strictest truth ?” 

“ I have told you the truth, and nothing but the truth, 
my daughter ! ” he answered, stretching out his hand to 
her. 

She took his fingers in hers for a second, and looked 
rigidly in his eyes, then her head sank. “I can sacrifice 
to you my whole future, father,” she said, as if some pres- 
sure -was lying on her voice, “but not myself; it would 
be high treason against the most holy inner law of my 
woman’s nature : would be self-desecration, and I could 
not do it and live. But it will not be necessary; the af- 
fair concerns only ‘the dollar’ and business. When Mr. 
Graham comes, send him to me — but until then, leave 
me alone ! ” 

“ I don’t know whether I understand you rightly, child,” 
he replied, hesitatingly. “It is not a question of the sac- 
rifice of your property, which I would not accept under 
any circumstances, nor in the most pressing danger ; but 
it concerns a bond that would arrange naturally all the 
relations, and w T ould do Graham justice before the world.” 

“He shall have justice before the world!” she said, 
“ but leave me alone for the present, father.” 

He shook his head, and turned to go out : but when the 
door was closed behind him, the maiden sank down on the 
nearest seat and buried her face in the cushions. 

At the same moment the sound of a galloping horse 
became audible on the avenue leading to the house. 

Ten minutes afterward a servant announced, “Mr. 
Graham ! ” 

Jessy raised herself slowly, looked in the glass, and 


84 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


smoothed her hair; a tinge of red came back to her 
cheeks, and a clear beam animated her eye, as if in the 
certainty of resolve. Resting lightly on the back of a 
chair, she remained standing, until the visitor appeared 
in the doorway, cast a look of half-inquiry on her serene 
features, and then quickly approached her. His attire 
indicated the peculiar nature of his visit : his perfumed 
hair showed the work of the barber ; his thin beard was 
carefuly dressed, his stiff collar and finely plaited shirt were 
of irreproachable whiteness; and the rest of his clothes 
had evidently come very lately from the tailor’s hand. 

“ Your father tells me, Miss Jessy,” he began, bowing, 
while his rigid features seemed to attempt an expression 
of tender feeling, “ that at last I may ask you a plain 
question and count upon a decisive answer — is it so, 
Jessy ?” 

Her eyes met his glance fully, but she stood more erect, 
as if to increase the space between herself and her suitor, 
and she pointed to a seat. “Your question is unneces- 
sary, sir ; my father has already told me what is needful,” 
she said with quiet firmness, taking an arm-chair that 
stood near her. “ So far as I can see, it concerns a busi- 
ness interest, with regard to an association between you 
and my father, in which I, with what I possess, am to be- 
come a uniting member — ” 

“ But, Miss Jessy, who wishes at this moment to speak 
of business interests?” he interrupted eagerly. “You 
have for the first time permitted me to speak with you 
unhindered, and so let me give this hour its rights ! ” 

An expression of icy coldness came suddenly over her 
face. “ I wished, Mr. Graham, to be allowed to finish 
quietly what I had to say,” she replied ; “ how we stand 
towards one another, out of business relations, your own 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


85 


feelings must have told you long ago, and I have no 
reason now for wishing for any other state of things ! ” 
He raised his head and looked at her, as if in a sudden 
confusion of all his ideas, but she continued quietly : “ I 
have told my father that he can dispose of my future, so 
far as may be consistent with my womanly self-respect, 
and so I am ready to give you, before a magistrate, my 
hand, which you desire, and with it entire control of my 
property ; but it is to be entirely a business transaction, 
sir, and you may expect just so much attention and re- 
gard, as the commonest public courtesies require.” At 
the last words her color deepened, but she seemed to sup- 
press forcibly the tumultuous feelings of her soul. “If 
you simply want satisfaction given you in the eyes of our 
circle of society, you shall have it completely,” she con- 
tinued, “but our inner sympathies and domestic life 
shall remain as fully separated as they have always been. 
— I will be the manager of your household affairs, you 
the controller and possessor of my property ; there I have 
expressed the united interests that are to bind us to- 
gether. — And 4o avoid any false expectation for the 
future,” she said, as if collecting all her strength, “ I tell 
you, in case of your acceptance of this arrangement, that 
there must never be a word of any change in the relations 
indicated, that I am quite ready to trust to your honor 
and word, but that if these are not sufficient security for 
me, I shall know how to protect myself! ” She rose quickly 
in overwhelming excitement, and turning her back upon 
him, went to the window. 

He had followed with immovable, wide-open eyes; her 
words and the changes of her face, and her sudden rising 
seemed first to waken him from his utter consternation. 
He looked after her, and then looked down with a slight 
8 


86 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


movement of his head. But in a little while a gloomy 
smile came over his face, that grew more and more to a 
jeering expression as he pursued his thoughts. Slowly, 
as if in new resolution, he looked up and glanced at the 
slender, graceful figure before him, and then he rose. 
“May I speak, Miss Jessy ? ? ’ he asked. 

She turned round hastily and let her serious gaze rest 
expectantly upon him. 

“ I ought scarcely to have counted on an unconditional 
granting of my greatest wish, for I knew the peculiarities 
of your nature,” he said, and only an uncertain look in his 
heavy eyes belied the serenity and submission of his 
tone ; “I am not surprised at the strangeness of your pro- 
position, and I accept it thankfully, as a quiet business- 
man, who in many things may feel otherwise than is com- 
mon with the young. Only two conditions are to be made 
on my part, which at any rate would be taught by simple 
regard for our position in the world. Keep the condi- 
tions of our treaty secret from every one, even your most 
intimate friends, and grant me at least the position that 
a friend has with a friend. Notwithstanding the busi- 
ness nature of our alliance, I would like to have a domes- 
tic life that I need not flee from.” 

He had slowly gone up to her and stretched out his 
hand. A slight shudder passed over her, as, with in- 
voluntary hesitation, she gave him her fingers. “ Y our first 
point needed no mention,” she said, as if speech was diffi- 
cult, “and I promise, that my behaviour towards you shall 
depend only on your own conduct.” 

“Then it may stand so, Miss Jessy, and I am satisfied,” 
he answered, pressing her hand for an instant; “what 
the future may yet bring, we do not know, but everything 
will depend on your own feelings. And now, in business 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


87 


fashion, let us conclude our contract on the day that is 
appointed for the settling of your father’s and mine; until 
then I will torment you with no more of my presence 
than is necessary.” 

He bowed, and went out ; but, when he left the door, a 
bitter, derisive expression was lying around his mouth. 

The girl had stayed in her place until he vanished : 
then she began, with painful restlessness, to walk up and 
down the room. “ Not so,” she said at last, standing still. 
“ Either no sacrifice, or make it freely. And it is 
scarcely a sacrifice ! A life-long engagement, which I 
would have considered good fortune if I had been 
obliged to gain my ow T n livelihood.” She moved her 
shoulders, as if shaking off the last painful sensation, and 
went slowly to the table in the middle of the room, where, 
in a flat silver basket, lay a number of visiting-cards. 
She began, as if giving herself up to a new thought, to 
take out one after another. They all bore European 
addresses, and, between the names of well-known, wealthy 
firms, looked quietly out the coats of arms of noble fami- 
lies, until a card, evidently often handled, bearing a 
simple name, without even an indication of position, 
seemed to fetter her gaze. “ Dreams !” she said, at last, 
quickly putting back the cards, and hiding the last ad- 
dress deep under the rest. “ Dreams, with which I shall 
buy a happy future for sister Carry and brother John; 
and so away with them.” 

She had gone hastily to the window, apparently to 
escape from her thoughts, when the door sprang open with 
a rustle, and a young girl fluttered in like a wild bird. 
“ Jessy, say that it is n’t true ; I don’t believe it,” she 
cried, hastening to her. “ Father says that you are going 
to marry — to marry that long-legged Graham, who, to- 


88 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


day, smells like a whole barber’s shop.” She laughed 
merrily, and threw both arms around her sister’s neck. 
“ Truly, is n’t it a sorry joke ? ” 

A fleeting blush came and went in Jessy’s lovely face ; 
but she kept her eyes fixed quietly on the girl’s rosy, 
laughing countenance, and stroked the slightly-bound, 
abundant hair from her brow. It was the image of 
budding, thoughtless youth that stood before her, though 
the full form indicated an approach to mature growth. 

“And why should it be an evil joke, Carry?” asked 
the elder. “ Is not Mr. Graham a perfect gentleman, 
belonging to the first merchants in the city ? ” 

Carry suddenly became serious, and she looked inquir- 
ingly into the speaker’s eyes. “ And you say that, Jessy?” 
she asked slowly, as if she could not grasp anything so 
incomprehensible. “ What has happened ? Is n’t he one 
of the first ‘ dollar-men ,’ who has a spasm of the jaw-bone 
if he has to give up his stiff, business manner?” She 
laughed involuntarily ; but, when she saw a slight motion 
between her sister’s eyebrows, she embraced her, and 
kissed her earnestly. “ I will say nothing — nothing at 
all, Jessy,” she cried. “ I will even know nothing ; but, 
take notice, I will torment him so, if he gives you any 
sorrow, that he will never set his foot near Oakhill again. 
And what does mother say about it?” she interrupted 
herself, taking once more her serious mien. 

“ Mother ! ” echoed the elder sister, in a singular tone. 
“ If we had a true mother, Carry, things would be very 
different. I would not have been brought up at my 
aunt’s so fashionably — would not have inherited her 
property ; but no more of that. Mother will receive the 
news, and be satisfied, as usual, with whatever father 
thinks best. And now let us stop talking about the 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


89 


affair,” she added, returning to her former deportment. 
“ What I have done was a voluntary and well-considered 
deed ; and, later, you may perhaps learn to appreciate 
my reasons.” 

She seized her sister’s face in both hands, as if in a 
sudden burst of feeling, and stooped to kiss it ; but Carry 
tore herself away with a refractory expression on her 
little mouth. “ I am not satisfied yet, Jessy,” she cried. 
“Why have you become so considerate all at once? 
Nobody shall force a man upon me whom I don’t want, 
even if he is as highly perfumed as my future brother-in- 
law. Brother-in-law ! ” she repeated, breaking out into a 
laugh. “ Do smile once more yourself, Jessy, that, at the 
least, I may see that you are not unhappy.” 

During the last words, the door had opened, and ad- 
mitted the master of the house, who now approached with 
an impatient look at the speaker. “ Leave us alone, 
Carry,” he said ; “I have something to say to your 
sister.” 

“ I know it already, father ; but I wish I could tell you 
my opinion,” she answered, and, throwing the hair from 
her brow with a toss of her head, she ran out of the 
room. 

“ I thank you, my daughter, for the speedy settlement 
of this necessary step,” said Winter, stretching out his 
hand to the girl. “ I knew that I could not be mistaken 
in your sound judgment, and the future will give you the 
fullest satisfaction.” 

Jessy looked into his eyes with an utterly unsympa- 
thizing glance, and it was an ice-cold hand that he took 
in his. However, he seemed not to notice these signs, 
and continued, urgently : “We have now to speak of the 
next steps. Mr. Graham, as a strict business man, will 
8 * 


90 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


naturally refuse to give me his hand upon our intended 
arrangement until, through your marriage-contract, the 
needful dispositions are made as to your property. Mean- 
while, some important affairs are lying in my hands, into 
which I cannot initiate him before our association ; and 
my own means will not suffice for them, so that all the 
possible profits must slip through my fingers, unless I can, 
in the shortest time, procure the ready money that I 
need. And yet such gains would be a promising begin- 
ning to my recovery, Jessy. I see now no reasonable 
ground why the one decisive step should not be carried 
out, and your marriage be celebrated at once. Our 
friends have expected nothing else for a long time. You 
shall have the sole determining whether a gay fete or a 
quiet ceremony at home shall distinguish the day ; but, 
as Graham might need a longer time for the preparation 
of your future home, it is quite an understanding that 
you shall spend the first weeks here in our house. The 
upper rooms can be easily arranged for you. Perhaps 
you would find it a pleasanter introduction to your new 
relation.” 

An energetic shaking of the head interrupted his speech. 
She stood pale but erect before him, and her eye had re- 
gained its full fire. “ Has Mr. Graham given his expressed 
consent to this arrangement?” she asked, with a decision 
that made the old man open his eyes widely. 

“Expressed; why so especially expressed?” he an- 
swered ; like every bridegroom he has willingly declared 
that he agrees to everything that seems right to his bride.” 

“Then I must tell you one thing, sir,” she replied, and 
her voice had a hard tone, while there was a motion 
almost of contempt around her mouth. “I bring the 
sacrifice of my whole life, for the future of those who 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


91 


stand nearest to me — but not for the momentary ad- 
vantage of your business, sir. You seem entirely to 
mistake what I am ready to do, or else mere feeling 
would have taught you some necessary delicacy towards 
me ; you appear to regard my capacity for sacrifice as a 
good chance, from which the greatest possible advantage 
must be drawn, and you seem to wish to teach me at last, 
thoroughly, that my first decision, even in the relation of 
father to daughter, bears no exception ! ” Her eyes dark- 
ened, and a sudden agitation began to overpower her : but 
she struggled fiercely with the momentary weakness. “What 
I have promised to do, I will do in my way, sir ! ” she 
continued; “and should my arrangements not suit you or 
Mr. Graham, it needs only one word for to-day’s negotia- 
tions to be considered undone. I will myself choose such 
a house in the town for our future dwelling as may cor- 
respond with my tastes ; I will have two rooms furnished 
according to my own pleasure, and Mr. Graham may fol- 
low his ow T n taste with regard to all the rest. Then I will 
appoint the day, which, without the smallest festivity, 
shall bring me to my new home, and if it is of any con- 
sequence to you to hasten the time as much as possible, 
send to help me, the old Henderson from your place of 
business ; I may at least hope that he will serve me with- 
out self-interest or ulterior aims.” She bowled, and left 
the room, as if to avoid a reply. 

Winter looked after her with the same immovable face 
which he had maintained during her whole speech, and 
then he passed his hand over his brow. “ I have been too 
hasty,” he murmured ; “ but in the meantime the princi- 
pal question is settled, for she holds her word once given 
as sacred, and when the contract is completed, he may try 
to bring her to reason.” He went slowly out to the hall, 


92 TWO HEMISPHERES. 

and in a quarter of an hour he stood in Graham’s com- 
pany before the door, where the latter’s horse had just 
been led up. The men pressed one another’s hands, as if 
concluding an affair of business ; the younger swung him- 
self into the saddle and galloped off, respectfully bowing 
towards the upper windows. 

A few miles up the river a steam-ferry formed the con- 
nection between the two banks, and beyond was spread 
out the populous mercantile town, in which stood the 
commission and forwarding-house of John Winter; as 
well as the bank and exchange of Charles B. Graham. 
Winter had received at his marriage a small farm on the 
nearer side of the river, but had at first, with the growing 
prosperity of his present house, and in the midst of his 
many plans, neglected it, and left the control of the nar- 
row husbandry and the few hands to his wife, who had been 
brought up in a simple country fashion, and found her 
pleasure in it; and so, like many business men in America, 
he led quite distinct domestic and business lives. With 
his increasing importance, he had become anxious to have 
his children brought up appropriately to his position ; so 
Jessy had been entrusted to a widowed and childless sister 
of his wife, who lived in fashionable circles, while Carry 
was sent, later, to an academy near by, and after Jessy’s 
return, which followed her aunt’s death, the younger 
daughter was brought home. His only son was a sufferer 
from lingering disease, which made him his mother’s con- 
stant companion, and allowed him to attend the city 
school, only with continual interruptions, 
n This was what the public knew of Winter’s domestic 
relations ; but it was less clear as to the exact nature of 
his business, by which he had attained in a remarkably 
short time and without any visible circumstances of good- 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


93 


fortune, to undoubted wealth. It was known that he had 
many transactions with Europe; yet his shipments were 
of scarcely importance enough to be mentioned, and all 
his counting-house officials consisted, besides himself, only 
of a deaf book-keeper and the universally known “old 
Henderson,” a sort of clerk, who was at the same time 
collector and “runner” for the establishment, and seemed 
to play the part of factotum for Winter’s private affairs. 
It w r as scarcely possible to carry on any proceedings with 
the book-keeper secretly, on account of his defect of hear- 
ing ; but at every searching question Henderson put on 
an innocent air and said : “You must go to Mr. Winter 
himself ; I know nothing, and do only what is appointed 
me ! ” and so the older business houses were compelled to 
let the mystery remain; but it was sufficient that Winter 
was always “ as good as gold ” in critical times ; the younger 
people troubled themselves still less with scruples, cele- 
brated both the daughters as beauties and good matches, 
explained away Jessy’s acknowledged brusqueness and 
pride by the two-fold riches that she possessed through 
her aunt’s property, and thronged to the parties which 
Winter gave at Oakhill in the course of the year. 

It was a week after the scene last described. In one 
of the streets that led only to the private dwellings of the 
mercantile aristocracy, where the houses, surrounded with 
shrubbery and ornamented with light verandas, bore the 
appearance of a double row of tasteful villas, there were 
standing in an open doorway, where orange-trees and 
fresh flowers had been placed, an old, but still erect man, 
and a colored woman, both evidently expecting some ar- 
rival. “ I tell you, that nobody has ever seen anything 
like it before,” said the latter, continuing a conversation, 
“ and if you haven’t prepared for a preposterous house- 


94 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


hold in arranging this house, then I will pick cotton all 
my life!” 

“I suppose that the plan wouldn’t suit you,” said the 
old man with a look of quiet humor, “but it must remain 
so ; she always has her whims, as Mr. Winter says.” 

“ She has not her whims, Mr. Henderson, and you at 
least should n’t echo that !” answered the colored woman 
earnestly ; “ I know well enough the time when she often 
used to give you her only quarter of a dollar if you had 
no money to buy tobacco — ” 

“And you would try to get it away from me!” inter- 
rupted the other with undisturbed good humor. 

“Now, now, Miss Jessy and I were still children!” 
laughed the girl, “ but I would only like to know who can 
talk of whims in connection with her, unless he has been 
put up to it. I am my own mistress, and can go where I 
please, but I would rather work in the fields on the other 
side of the river if it must be, than leave her ! ” 

“Well, Flora,” said Henderson with a face of sudden 
seriousness and a lower voice, “if you love her so much, 
you will do well to shut your eyes to everything that you 
may see here, and to be as dumb as our book-keeper is 
deaf! ” He nodded to her with a significant look, and 
the woman raised her head with an expression of curi- 
osity. 

“You don’t mean that in real earnest?” she said half 
aloud and w'ith wide-open eyes. 

“ I mean nothing and say nothing ! ” he answered, 
“anything odd that has been done is according to her 
orders, and that is all ! But I know that a single un- 
suitable remark may make more mischief than can ever 
be set straight again, and a silent mouth makes no mis- 
takes!” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


95 


“ But why does she treat him so coldly, Henderson ? 
He is to be her husband ! ” she whispered. 

“ It isn’t you that are being married ! ” said the old 
man decidedly, while he could not restrain a look of rail- 
lery, but Flora looked out with an excited air, as a car- 
riage rattled down the street and stopped before the 
house ; hastening forward, the old man opened the door, 
and Graham, in a careful, elaborate toilette, sprang out ; 
before he could turn to assist the lady who followed him, 
she reached the ground, and turned again to the interior 
of the carriage. It was Jessy in a simple street-costume. 
“I thank you heartily for coming with me, father, but I 
need nothing further ! ” she said with quiet decision. “ I 
need rest, and above all things wish to be alone. Adieu 
Carry ! ” she added in a gentler tone, and with a burst of 
sobbing her sister threw herself on her neck. “Come to 
see me soon and often ! ” she whispered to her, as if she 
feared to betray the emotion in her own voice; but then 
she freed herself from her embrace and coldly took the 
arm of Graham, who had waited without a word. 

The carriage rolled away, and the pair entered the 
house. 

“ Have you arranged these decorations ? ” she said, 
turning to Henderson when she saw the ornamented en- 
trance hall, and a look of half-displeasure passed over 
her face. 

“It was an attention of my friends, Jessy,” answered 
Graham, with an effort to restrain the trembling in his 
tones ; “no one could know that this was not to be a happy 
day for me!” 

She did not answer, but stretched out her hand to the 
servant as she approached, and the latter pressed her lips 
upon it. “Enough of that, Flora; think that I am not 


96 


. TWO HEMISPHERES. 


otherwise to-day than I have always been ! ” she said, 
gently checking her, “now go on to my room, I will come 
there immediately myself!” 

They had traversed the elegant “hall,” and Jessy tur- 
ned with a determined movement to the first door opening 
into one of the two richly furnished parlors that occupied 
the ground-floor of the house. On entering, she freed 
herself from her companion’s arm and raised her head 
quietly. “Have you any wishes to express to me, sir?” 
she asked. “ If not, supper will be ready at the proper 
time, and I will expect you at it.” 

“ I have above all things the wish to speak a few words 
with you!” he answered, going to the open door and 
shutting it. He took a chair, and pointed to a sofa near 
by. “Sit down for a moment, Jessy!” 

She took the indicated seat, while Graham placed him- 
self near her, but his inquiring glance met an utterly 
passive, indifferent eye. 

“You have to-day become Mrs. Graham, that is to say, 
my wife, Jessy,” he began after- a short pause, “we have 
made a life-long contract, into which I have entered in 
spite of your conditions. But I would like to ask you 
whether we will be able to bear, for the whole duration of 
our lives, a relation towards one another that will put 
the most painful constraint on our domestic life, shut out 
every home-like comfort, every inner satisfaction, that 
must make us, mutually, stumbling-blocks to each other 
— and all that without a hope of change, except the end 
that awaits everything mortal? You, Jessy, are still too 
young, and I am too far from indifferent, for a future that 
offers no gleam of light, and therefore I must speak, not- 
withstanding all that your peculiar humor may have de- 
picted to you as your future. You do not love me, Jessy, 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


97 


but I hope you can respect me ; and a liking founded on 
respect is more lasting, and for practical life more valu- 
able, than much of what is called love. But you must 
allow me to obtain this liking from you, Jessy ; in you 
lies the only hope for our united lives, you have brought 
your whole existence to a conclusion in me alone, and if 
you coldly repel me, if you deny me every honest attempt 
to make myself known from my better side, so that you 
may at last learn to endure life with me in a more real 
union, you must make yourself unhappy, as well as me ! 
— Be reasonable, Jessy, and do not suppose that a rela- 
tionship can be sustained altogether as you have thought !” 
he continued in a livelier tone, trying to take her hand ; 
but at his last words she had hastily risen. 

“ Stay where you are, sir!” she answered with flashing 
eyes, stepping backwards. “ You know admirably how to 
paint the sorrow that awaits us, and yet you have fulfilled 
this life-long contract, have taken it, in spite of my strin- 
gent conditions — why, sir, if not with the simple idea 
of deceiving me when it was in your power — and is this, 
perhaps, to arouse the respect out of which my inclina- 
tion towards you is to grow ? I have often enough shown 
you the repugnance that I felt — and you wished for me, 
nevertheless. You have not disdained the compulsory 
sacrifice that I made for the happiness of my family, you 
have promised on your word of honor, to observe the un- 
natural conditions — if now really the human being in 
you has still so much power over the man of business, 
that the consequences can give you sorrow, you must ac- 
cept what you have yourself called forth. But I, depend 
upon it, sir, I would rather die than disgrace myself by 
pretending any affection for you!” 

Graham had left his chair slowly at the beginning of 
9 G 


98 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


her speech, and his face now showed its usuahrigidity. 
“Very well, ma’am,” he answered, a look of/derision 
coming upon his mouth, “ your imagination has really 
made quite a scene ; now we must wait for whatever the 
future may bring. At all events you will permit me not 
to give up my side. I shall be happy to see you at supper, 
if only on account of the servants ! ” 

He turned away ; but Jessy walked into the hall and 
up the elegantly carpeted stairs, with her head erect and 
her lips pressed closely together. She opened the door 
of an apartment charmingly furnished as a boudoir; 
whose open side-door gave a glimpse of a little sleeping- 
room, and without a word she motioned to the colored 
woman to leave her. Then she shut the door, threw off 
her hat and shawl, and went into the bed-chamber. 
Silently she fell on her knees by the bed and hid her 
face in the pillow ; but her whole frame quivered under 
a burst of grief, which only God and her own heart could 
fathom. 


. N 


V. 

IN THE NEW LIFE. 

' v \ 

N the fourlh story of a large American hotel, in a 
little room that was almost entirely filled by the broad 
bedstead, were two young men. One of them was using 
the narrow space to walk thoughtfully up and down ; 
the other, seated at a small table, stared into the lighted 
candle before him, and whistled, half aloud, a melody 
which he accompanied by a drumming of his fingers. 

“Well, so here we are!” the latter suddenly said, inter- 
rupting his amusements, without altering his position, 
“ and it is to be hoped that one may be able to become some 
kind of human being again. Six weeks pickled on the 
ship,” — he began to count off on his fingers, — “three days 
and nights in New York spent in battle with the bugs, 
and ending at last in flight ; eight days on the journey 
with steamboats and other boats, and no sound meeting 
the ear but English gibberish, — not a morsel to put in one’s 
mouth that any rational creature could swallow, except 
for the fear of starving among these barbarians — well? 
so much and no more, or else one might be homesick out 
of pure chagrin — ” he made a wonderful grimace and 
pounded his closed hand on the table. Then he turned 
inquiringly to his companion. “ Nothing to say yet, Herr 
Beferendary?” he asked presently. 

His friend stopped, looked at him for a second as if lost 

99 


100 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


in thought, and passed his hand over his face. “You are 
right, Heinrich, very little can come now from racking 
one’s brains,” said he, slowly sitting down on the edge of 
the bed, “ but the thoughts that suddenly presented them- 
selves just now would not be dismissed. For our mutual 
well-being it would probably have been better if we had 
stayed in New York — ” 

“At least shorter and cheaper ! ” muttered the other. 

“ Bight ! but you know what brought me here, and the 
city is large enough to offer chances of every kind. You 
shall under no circumstances regret that you have fol- 
lowed me faithfully, for I still have money enough at 
least to send you back to New York in case of need.” 

“ Heavens ! — that just fails of making me desperate ! ” 
Heinrich interrupted, springing up. “ He has paid for 
the journey over the water for me, has provided for me 
until now, and so — but wait ! ” He went close to his 
friend and laid both hands on his shoulders. “A joiner, 
who knows how to help himself, Hugo, will find his 
deserts anywhere in this America, and often better in the 
country than in New York, where everything is strange. 
So it was only right that I should come with you, and 
God give me only a German master and a good glass of 
beer. Of your affairs I had nothing to say and nothing 
to think, but I knew one thing, of which I saw remark- 
able examples in New York. Where a mechanic can 
(easily make his way, a cultivated man, with all his learn- 
ing, is often in need, and I have consoled my conscience, 
j which is heavy with ail the money I have cost you, by 
'thinking that if a time should come when — and so 
forth !” — he interrupted himself with a quick, half-embar- 
rassed motion of the head, — “ then Mangold would be there 
too, to share everything that he has and gains ; at all 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


101 


events, to pay his abominable indebtedness. — I had to 
say that,” he added, as if afraid of being interrupted, 
“so that I might at least look you straight in the face, 
and if you call me an ass, I have nothing at all against 
it ! There ! now speak of your own affairs ! ” 

He sat down again; but Hugo was looking on the 
ground with knitted brows, and after some time he looked 
up, stretching out his hand to the joiner. “ It is well, 
Heinrich, and you have judged more practically than I,” 
he said, responding to the other’s hearty pressure ; “ but 
I scarcely know myself what I want here. There is the 
card,” he continued, slowly taking out his pocket-book, 
“ which I considered a hint from destiny when I found 
it in your letter, which gave me a goal for my journey 
when I had no other, and which I have followed with no 
thought except that it would show me where to begin my 
new life. Beyond the river, a little way in the country, 
the place must be ; and now — what will I do there, or 
how should I introduce myself, even if my suspicion as 
to the one who sent the card is confirmed ? ” 

“ I don’t know whether it might not be some help to 
see the beautiful spot,” answered the other, rubbing his 
nose, thoughtfully; “such invitations are not to be 
treated lightly, and at least I wouldn’t give it up, now 
that we are here ! ” 

“ And what then, Heinrich ? Am I to tell the people 
that for the moment I am without the means for a decent 
subsistence, and that I must take the first position that 
offers itself? or shall I play the independent man, only 
to expose myself afterwards ? ” 

The joiner raised his head with a humorous look. 
“You may have some special reason for not wanting to 
appear poorer than formerly,” he said, and a slight color 
9 * 


102 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


came into the referendary’s face ; “ but I think other- 
wise. If it was the right person who sent the card, it 
was of course a friendly hint to raise you out of your 
low estate ; and now that you have come, according to 
order, to admire the pretty places, no one will expect you 
to have already made a fortune.” 

Hugo shook his head, and rose hastily. “You may 
be right, Heinrich,” he cried. “ I may be a fool, more- 
over, as I would not be in other circumstances ; but I 
shall not go there as an applicant for help ! ” He made 
a quick stride through the room. There are schools, 
gymnasiums, and educational establishments here, as I 
have heard,” he added ; “ I have learned some things 
besides jurisprudence, and I hope I can get a respectable 
position anywhere as teacher ; besides, there are chances 
in strange situations of which one knows nothing now — 
but first, in some way I must gain a sure footing before 
I show myself to these people, who — ” He ran his hand 
through his abundant hair, and turned his back again 
on his companion. 

Just then there sounded up from the dark, quiet street 
the muffled tones of an organ. The joiner raised his 
head, surprised, and stood up, saying suddenly, “ It ’s a 
hand-organ, a regular Berlin hand-organ ! ” He listened 
motionless for some seconds; then he exclaimed, in an 
ecstasy, “ Do you hear it, Hugo ? Do you hear the song ? 
Could n’t a Thuringian child cry straight out now, here 
in this topsy-turvy country ? ” 

Hugo had stopped walking, and listened, with droop- 
ing head, to the pure, harmonious, gentle sounds that, in 
an instant, translated him to the streets of Berlin and 
his early, careless life ; but when the melody began anew, 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


103 


a clear, girlish voice suddenly joined in it from the cor- 
ridor before the room : 

"How can it ever be 
That I can part from thee?” 

and Heinrich started as if under an electric shock. “That 
is a Thuringian girl ! O thou blessed house ! ” he cried, 
exultingly, and in the next minute he was at the door. 
The referendary approached curiously as he opened it, 
and saw a neat, fresh servant-maid occupied in cleaning 
the steps, but starting back half terrified as the joiner 
rushed up to her with every appearance of being about 
to embrace her. 

The listener closed the door with an involuntary smile. 
“ You, at least, will find your own way everywhere ! ” he 
murmured, throwing himself on the bed ; and, as minute 
after minute passed by without Heinrich’s seeming to 
think of coming back, he fell once more into his reflec- 
tions, and the image of the tall maiden came before him, 
that during his long journey had floated before his fancy 
like a shining goal, and in whose presence he now, as in 
sudden awaking, saw himself so poor and lowly, that the 
reality looked his undefined dreams in the face with de- 
rision : — he began anew to put before his mind what he 
had heard on the way of city affairs, and to make a plan 
for the quickest possible fathoming of his present chances. 
Even in Hamburg, when changing his funds into Ameri- 
can money, he had seen with terror how it melted away 
according to the standard of the dollar, and for that 
reason he had preferred the longer, but less expensive 
passage in an emigrant-ship, to coming in a steamer. But 
he realized, for the first time, on landing in New York 
harbor, how far all his calculations had fallen short of 


104 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


his actual expenditure ; and when, without having thought 
of separating from the joiner after the journey, he reached 
in his company their appointed goal, he had counted over, 
with real anxiety, the funds still remaining. He could 
not expect to have the rest of his little property sent over 
to him in less than half a year, and to demand another 
advance from Romer seemed an abuse of his friendship, 
to which he could scarcely consent in the greatest need. 
Meanwhile some other means must reach the desired end, 
and perhaps it was as well for him to be compelled to see 
after his future subsistence quickly and decidedly. His 
fresh, youthful courage rose in him again ; with his 
knowledge of the English language, and his other acquire- 
ments, some tolerable employment could not be wanting 
for him in the great city ; and when, after nearly half 
an hour, the joiner came in like a marten coming back 
from a dove-cote, he was able to receive him with a good- 
humored: “You begin with good strokes, Heinrich !” 

“Yes,” he answered, standing still, with a face of sud- 
den earnest, “ but isn ’t it wonderful, that a man must 
come all the way to America to get the best from his own 
home ? It is an Arnstadt girl, Hugo, and that girl — I 
would marry her right away if I could ! ” 

“ Sleep over it, and see how the case looks to-morrow 
by daylight ! ” laughed his friend. 

“ Sleep it shall be,” he said, taking off his coat ; “ but 
for the rest — 


“How can it ever be 
That I can part from thee?’' 


he sang suddenly, and immediately went to bed. 

Hugo’s first performance the next morning was to find 
a suitable German inn. For one thing, he expected a 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


105 


more reasonable bill there, and for another, he would 
rather confide in one of his own countrymen than in any 
of the cold faces that stared at him in the “office” of the 
American Hotel. He was directed very speedily to a 
passable-looking house, and the comfortable figure of the 
host, who met him in the dark but clean tap-room, gave 
him none but a pleasant impression. When he requested 
permanent lodgings, he had to submit to a scrutiny of his 
appearance, and an examination of his luggage; and, 
both of these proving satisfactory, he was invited to sit 
down : he was promised a convenient room as soon as it 
could be made ready, and then he was asked where he had 
come from, and whither he was going. At this early hour 
the room was empty, and the young man availed himself 
of the opportunity without delay, to secure an opinion of 
his prospects. He sent for beer as a preface to the con- 
versation with his host, and then began to tell briefly of 
his late arrival in the country, his ignorance of affairs 
there, and his plans for making a livelihood ; he gave an 
intimation of his present means, and what he still had to 
expect, but was unable to wait for, without gaining a foot- 
hold for himself, and then he asked his countryman for 
an expression of his unvarnished opinion concerning the 
prospects that would offer, and for any advice that he 
could give. 

The host had listened to him without stirring, and now 
he pushed off his cap, which all day long seemed never 
to leave his head. “ Are you a Catholic ?” he asked. 

Hugo shook his head in astonishment, and inquired the 
reason of the question. 

“Well, perhaps something could have been done 
sooner,” answered the other, thoughtfully, making figures 
on the table ; “ the Catholics alone have a special school 


106 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


among the Germans, and the priest could very likely have 
done something for you ; hut that ’s of no account now. 
The rest of the Germans send their children to the Ameri- 
can free-schools, and don’t give much for learning beyond 
that. Among the Americans, many chances might he 
found for you, if you possess the necessary knowledge, 
but you must have acquaintances and introductions, or it 
goes for nothing. It ’s a bad affair in America, if a man 
has no regular occupation that he can take up again here, 
and I have seen many a capable man come to poverty 
because he knew nothing but what they learn in the 
schools and universities over there. I tell you this frank- 
ly, and at once, so that you may not form large hopes 
that would only make you lose time and money! Try 
your luck,” he added, looking up, “ go to see the presi- 
dents of the different institutions, perhaps you will have 
uncommonly good fortune somewhere, for without it, an 
entire stranger, and a German into the bargain, cannot 
count on anything ! ” 

Hugo looked in the man’s face, in which little sympa- 
thy, to be sure, but the full sincerity of conviction was 
written, and it came before him for the first time, like a 
spectre, that he could scarcely have acted more recklessly 
than to trust himself at a venture to the chances of an 
unknown land — only in the background of his soul there 
were some vague recollections of young people like him- 
self, who had come over here with various means of getting 
a living, and had made their fortunes : and he clung to 
these unconsciously, as to his only visible support. “Is 
there then no other way in which a young man, with a 
good will, can help himself to a new life ? ” he asked, 
concealing with difficulty the dejection in his voice. “ I 


I 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 107 

certainly would not be the first one who, without having 
exactly learned a trade, had supported himself!” 

“By no means the first and certainly not the last. You 
have indeed an advantage over many, in being fluent in 
English, as you say you are,” replied the host, slowly re- 
moving his cap; “but nobody can put himself into a 
ready-made nest, as you would like to do. For people of 
your sort two things are required, in order to make a way 
here : first to wipe out and forget everything that has 
been, and then to endure your apprenticeship patiently, 
even if for the time it brings the bare necessaries of life, 
for here no work disgraces a man. Many a one, it is true, 
never comes out of his apprenticeship, because he will 
not give himself and all that he has to his new country, 
but clings with tenfold feeling to the past ; these are the 
men that finally take their own lives, or, if they can get 
the means, go back to Germany and give America a bad 
name ; but an ordinary man with good sense and a strong 
will, knows very well when he has passed his time of ap- 
prenticeship and is ready for life in this country, and what 
oppressed him most at first serves afterwards to help him 
on his way. Whatever you see me here, I was next to 
the chief inspector of customs, when I was glad, thirty 
years ago, to escape from office and country, with a whole 
skin ; I was at first a wine-merchant’s assistant in New 
York, because of my knowledge of wines and spirits, and 
I thanked God for my daily bread — now my son has the 
wine-business that I afterwards established, together with 
a vineyard near the city, and I have the inn as a kind 
of resting-place.” He put his cap on again, thoughtfully, 
while the young man was incapable of uttering a word, 
from the confusion of thoughts which the hard speech 
had called up within him. 


108 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


“ I have said more to you,” began the speaker after a 
short pause, “ than I generally say, for advice doesn’t do 
much good to green emigrants; but you have spoken 
openly to me, though you still have some money, and I 
have answered you in the same way. — I will even say 
something more,” he added, glancing slowly over his 
guest’s person ; “you could possibly make a beginningas 
a teacher of languages, and get a few scholars, but you 
would never come out of the trouble connected with it, 
for literary affairs have no foundation here unless they 
are followed as a business in one’s own school or the like, 
and you haven’t the true manner for them, besides want- 
ing the means. If you are Avilling to cast off all that 
lies behind you, and begin your apprenticeship at once, 
I have myself a position for you as bar-keeper, that is, as a 
man who shall serve the guests here, but also represent 
me in the house in every way. There is something in you 
that pleases me, and gives me confidence in your being 
the right sort of person. You would become acquainted 
with true American life more quickly, and be more ready 
for any kind of business, than in any other situation — 
don’t answer me now ! ” he interrupted himself,, as sud- 
denly a flush came into Hugo’s face ; and a singular smile 
stole over the comfortable, strongly marked features of 
the speaker, “ I can imagine that the proposal comes upon 
you like a clap of thunder at Christmas. At all events 
it would be as well for you to settle down quietly in the 
house and look at the life here, and by all means try to 
get some other employment. But I have been alone for 
some days already, because I wouldn’t entrust my affairs 
to every man that chose to come, and I will wait for two 
or three days longer. So,” he added with the same smile, 
rising slowly, “ take the porter with you to bring your 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 109 

luggage here, and console yourself for the present by 
thinking that if everything fails, you can at least have a 
situation that will give you your daily bread ! ” 

Hugo found himself on his way to his previous lodgings 
for the purpose of arranging the moving of his possessions, 
but under the pressure of conflicting feelings and images 
he could scarcely have kept the right direction if he had 
not mechanically followed his companion. Such an im- 
press of truth had lain on every word that the host had 
said, that he could not deny their force, though all his 
feelings rose against their practical application ; it was 
evidently pure gOod-will that had dictated the man’s last 
proposal, and yet Hugo felt it as an affront, an injury to 
his inner value. Unsummoned, there came before him 
the proud, brilliant figure of the girl whose family-address 
he had followed thus far, and now he thought of himself 
as — head waiter in a little tavern. And yet there was 
something in his recollection of the melancholy first years 
of every one who had come into this strange land with- 
out a settled plan, something that agreed with the “ ap- 
prentice-time” of his counsellor, and at the same moment 
there sounded anew in his ears : “ Here no work is a 

disgrace !” — and what should he do, if his new friend’s 
predictions should be verified with regard to getting a 
position as teacher ? In inward strife, that he had never 
felt so painfully before, he reached his last night’s quar- 
ters and ordered his luggage taken away. For the joiner, 
who had left the hotel at the same time with himself, he 
left information as to his present abode, and then he took 
the road back again. 

The host received him with a silent nod, and had him 
shown to a small but pleasant room in the second story ; 
Hugo scarcely noticed his surroundings; he felt his re- 
10 


110 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


solutions and his judgment to be so uncertain that before 
his inward restlessness, outward impressions only half 
reached his consciousness, and when the door closed after 
the man who had brought up his luggage, he threw him- 
self on a chair by the window, and gave himself up freely 
to his feelings. He wanted to await the return of Man- 
gold, whose sound understanding often atoned for what- 
ever he lacked of finer feelings, before he took any further 
steps ; but an hour had passed, spent by Hugo now in 
dreams and now in measuring the room impatiently, be- 
fore the jovial countenance of his companion appeared in 
the open doorway. * 

“ Fixed quarters regularly taken already — well, I 
haven’t been lazy either!” he cried, coming in. “Two 
new things, Hugo ! First, I have work and I can look 
in the glass again without shame — there is to be sure a 
most wonderful fashion in this country in cabinet-work, 
that would give a German master spasms, but a true sol- 
dier must adapt himself to everything, as our under-officer 
said, and I only wish you had as quick fortune as I 
have ! ” 

“ I ’ve had it, Heinrich,” answered the other, with a 
slight twitching around his mouth. “ I ’ve had a position 
for more than an hour.” 

“You! where in heaven’s name, in such a hurry?” 

“ Down stairs in the guest-room, behind the cupboard !” 

Heinrich looked at his friend a moment with very wide- 
open eyes. “ Bar-keeper ? ” he asked then, and a mingling 
of various expressions sounded in the word. 

“Bar-keeper, Heinrich, and when you come for beer, 
you may scold me well, if I don’t wait on you fast 
enough ! ” 

The joiner began to rub his nose. “If that was a joke, 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


Ill 


Hugo, it was wrong,” he said slowly, “but still more so 
if it was earnest. I know that the bar-keeper is the prin- 
cipal person in a house, if he does only represent the 
proprietor, and in New York I have seen a Prussian 
officer behind the bar, for whom I had more respect than 
if he had had his uniform on. But really, I wouldn’t 
have proposed such a beginning to you, and now only tell 
me how much of it is true!” 

“ So much, that it is probably my first and last re- 
source, if the host knows the affairs of this region !” cried 
Hugo, restlessly springing up and pacing the room again. 

“And why cannot anything be done with a teacher’s 
situation ?” asked the joiner, following with his eyes the 
movements of his companion. 

“Because I can’t do anything among the Americans 
without recommendation — simply, just as it is else- 
where ! ” 

“ Then why don’t you have yourself recommended ? ” 
answered the other, dryly. Hugo stood still and looked 
at the questioner with a serious gaze. 

“Well, well,” the latter continued, calmly, “ this is 
the way, when a man won’t let another finish what he has 
to say. As my second point, I wished to inform you that 
the same John Winter, whose name is on the card, has a 
mercantile house here in the city, that I have myself read 
the sign, and I think now that a recommendation would 
be the least that he could give you. You saved his 
daughter almost from death, have had a hard experience 
with a nobleman on her account, and have come here on 
a special invitation.” 

The referendary looked away towards the window, and 
a slight flush of excitement came gradually into his face. 
For a little while he seemed to struggle with himself. “ In 


112 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


the city — in business; I can go there,” he said, at last, 
with hesitation; “but heaven only knows whether the 
man knows anything of the card, or has ever heard of 
me. Meanwhile, thank you, Heinrich,” he said, turning 
back to his friend, as if he had taken a resolution ; “ and 
as it is apparently the only step that destiny leaves to my 
choice, let it be done immediately. Tell me where I am 
to meet you afterwards.” 

“ Oh ! I ’ll await the decision here ! ” answered the 
joiner, “but I will, in the mean time, soothe the pain of 
my longing for the first glass of beer in eight days ! ” 

Ten minutes later, the referendary turned into the street 
indicated, and saw, from a distance, among the names of 
other mercantile firms that covered the houses, the one he 
sought. It was one of the usual rough, brick structures, 
already become a dingy brown from age, which he now 
approached, and, with a shake of the head, he compared 
with it the rank that the family had claimed in Berlin. 
He had unconsciously accepted its position in European 
society, and, amid all that moved him at this moment, 
he felt clearly that the most pressing need could not make 
him subject himself to humiliation here. 

The lower part of the house, that opened upon the 
street by three broad doors, and received no light except 
through them, was partly taken up with bales and casks ; 
but in the back-ground was to be seen, through a glass 
door, a roomy “office,” lighted from the back, and, after 
a brief look around him, the young man did not delay 
to take his way to it. 

Of the three persons who were occupied at separate 
writing-desks, none raised his face at the quiet opening 
of the door but an old gray -headed man, who, when Hugo 
asked for the proprietor, pointed silently to a carefully 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


113 


dressed man, apparently engaged near a great iron safe, 
in examining papers, but who slowly turned his head 
when his name was called. Hugo recognized at once the 
features that he had seen before, and he went up to 
him with a slight bow. 

“ I had the pleasure, Mr. Winter, of meeting you on 
an Alpine tour, at the ascent of the Mont en Vert in the 
Vale of Chamouni,” he said ; “you will be by no means 
likely to remember me; but Destiny led me to meet Miss 
Winter on the same day. I had also the honor of renew- 
ing the acquaintance at a ministerial soiree in Berlin, as 
well as of receiving her card afterwards, and so I would 
not fail to pay you my respects, at least, when a singular 
chain of circumstances had brought me here.” 

Winter had cast a hasty look of inquiry over the per- 
son of his visitor ; then he took the card, to which Hugo 
added his own, and drew up a chair near him. “ Sit 
down, sir,” he said, not taking his cold eye from the 
young man’s face ; “ are you here only by chance, or do 
you intend to remain for some time in the city?” 

“ I might say both ! ” he answered, laughing, without 
being able to prevent some confusion from coming over 
him. “ I have, like so many others, a plan of beginning 
a new life for myself in your country — I think I have 
the necessary ability — and now I want to see what cir- 
cumstances will promise me.” 

The merchant bowed; his face had become several 
shades colder, and more reserved. 

“ Perhaps you can tell me, Mr. Winter,” Hugo began 
again, after a pause that had weighed on him like lead, 
“whether there is any possibility of finding a situation in 
one of the schools here. I think that I could fulfil the re- 
10* II 


114 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


quirements of several branches, and I should think it a 
most acceptable beginning ! ” 

“ Unfortunately, I am not in a condition to give you 
any information,” was the answer ; “ I have not the 
slightest connection with these institutions ; but we can 
scarcely be in need of teachers.” 

The color had risen in the German’s face at Winter’s 
words, and he left the seat that he had taken. A kind 
of shame came over him ; the man’s whole manner seemed 
assumed to prevent any possible demand on his part. 
“ You are busy, sir, so I will' disturb you no longer ! ” he 
said, deliberately, making a movement as if to go. 

“ You left Berlin in consequence of an unpleasant 
event — if I am right?” Winter said now, some anima- 
tion coming into his face for the first time. 

“ I believe that you are not mistaken in the person ! ” 
answered the young man, arresting his steps for an in- 
stant ; “ but, as I said, I will not disturb you further ! ” 

“ And you wish to become a teacher here ; is that your 
last chance, sir ? ” the other continued, without regarding 
his guest’s movement towards departure. 

Hugo turned back slowly. “ I do not know why you 
question me in this way, Mr. Winter,” said he ; “ but I 
may tell you for your satisfaction that I did not come 
here to ask you for anything that could cost you money ! ” 
A sarcastic smile glided over the merchant’s face. “ I 
did not desire the assurance, sir ; but I will take it,” he 
replied. “ And now answer my questions ; perhaps I can 
serve you in some w T ay.” 

The German stood for a moment in evident irresolu- 
tion. “First of all, I must procure a situation, if I am 
to live,” he said at last, “ and it was only friendly coun- 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


115 


sel or a recommendation which I would have asked of 
you.” 

“Very well, sir! then we understand one another,” 
answered Winter, with another smile, which the young 
man felt as an affront, without knowing why. “ A busi- 
ness man likes to be on his guard against his slight ac- 
quaintances from Europe when they appear here by 
chance ; they cost more, as a rule, than one would sup- 
pose.” He fixed a thoughtful gaze on the referendary, 
and passed his hand over his face. “ I could, possibly, 
myself give you sufficient employment, if it w r ould suit 
you as a beginning,” he continued. “I have already 
thought of looking for a German correspondent, as I 
formed several new associations during my last journey. 
Moreover I should like to have some assistance for my 
little son, who is frequently kept from school by illness, 
and if you understand something of the piano and French, 
my daughter would also gladly place herself under your 
tuition.” 

Hugo had to use all his self-control, to prevent his 
increasing emotion from showdng itself, during the last 
part of this speech. He had been all at once relieved 
from his oppressive anxiety ; he was to enter Winter’s 
family, to be in the immediate presence of her, who sud- 
denly stood before his mind in the full witchery that had 
taken him captive long ago. But he was to occupy a 
position that would forbid every tender feeling, if he 
would not, from the first, betray the confidence reposed 
in him, while in her eyes he must withal appear, simply, 
as a man who had made a petition for help. 

“ I may add,” Winter said, interrupting his thoughts, 
as if he had given the delay of his answer some decided 
interpretation, “that under certain circumstances you 


116 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


would be able in this way to become acquainted with the 
American manner of business; for I suppose that you 
only care for such an engagement as would promise you 
a prospect for the future.” 

“ You make me quite ashamed, sir ! ” Hugo hastened 
to reply ; “ but tell me one thing : would the assistance 
that you will afford me really agree with your own inter- 
ests, so that I need not regard the offered employment 
only as a kind of — alms in my temporary situation.” 

“ I never give alms, sir ! ” Winter answered, dryly ; 
“but if you wish to unite perfectly with my interests 
that wdiich you call assistance on my part, you need but 
follow this that I am about to say: I need in my business 
a new power on which I can rely without limit for per- 
fect discretion and honest devotion to my ideas, and what 
you would naturally lack in knowledge of business and 
routine w T ould be made up for me at present in the fact 
that you are free from other engagements ; for one never 
knows with what threads young people are entangled 
now. You see that I speak quite openly. But I had 
proposed the instruction in my family, because the work 
here would not demand your full time until you had 
gained considerable insight with regard to it, and, besides, 
I should like to make myself familiar with your peculiar- 
ities as soon as possible. If anything is still obscure, 
speak frankly ! ” 

“ I am at your service, sir, heartily, and with all my 
power ! ” answered Hugo, in whose mind the whole good- 
fortune of the proposed situation had suddenly awakened, 
. and with an unconcealed expression of his feelings, he 
stretched his hand to the merchant; “and if I do not 
satisfy you, you may at least be sure that neither my zeal 
nor my good will is at fault.” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


117 


“Very well! I think we can try it,” replied Winter, 
taking his offered hand with a satisfied nod ; so be 
ready to drive with me at three o’clock this afternoon to 
my farm, where I will introduce you to my family, and 
talk with you further. On the way you can tell me 
something else about the events that brought you and 
my daughter together; I know very little on the subject, 
and I should scarcely have heard even that, if your last 
exploit in Berlin had not affected us pretty closely ! ” 

“Affected you, Mr. Winter?” cried Hugo, looking up 
surprised. 

“Naturally, sir!” laughed the merchant. “No one 
knew the name of the man who had had a share in the 
accident, and so my daughter was to be questioned, be- 
cause she had been seen talking with you. Meanwhile, 
she had made her escape just at the right time with the 
daughter of the American minister, who is a school-friend 
of hers, and she avoided the examination. Two days 
afterwards we left the city.” 

“ And in that time did nothing more come to your ears 
about the affair ? ” asked Hugo, with suspended breath. 

“ Possibly, but I did n’t notice it in the midst of my 
engagements.” 

“ Then perhaps you hold me even now as a murderer, 
Mr. Winter!” 

“Murderer — pshaw! You defended yourself, and I 
think the affair was commonly viewed in that light.” 

“ But I give you my word of honor, that the man fell 
on his own sword ! ” 

“ So much the worse for you, if you gave up your career 
without any cause ! ” said the merchant, laughing ; “ don’t 
let us trouble ourselves any more about it, you must learn 


118 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


to look at such things more easily — so let us leave the 
rest till afternoon.” 

With a full and happy heart Hugo took his way back 
to the German inn, and found the joiner in lively conver- 
sation with the old host. “ A prize, Heinrich ! ” he cried, 
and in the overflow of his delight he clapped his com- 
panion so hard on the shoulder, that he started with a 
cry of pain ; then he gave his hand to the master of the 
house. “You ’ll have to look for a more grateful man for 
bar-keeper,” he said ; “ I have &llen in with an acquaint- 
ance, whom I met in Berlin — John Winter, whose es- 
tablishment you know, of course — and I have been en- 
gaged by him as correspondent ! ” 

“Hallo! nowit’s all right again!” cried the joiner, 
“ even though Mangold had a preposterous idea ! ” 

The host had looked up in visible astonishment, and 
taken Hugo’s hand half unwillingly ; then he took his 
cap off, and put it on again. “John Winter! ” he said, 
at last, slowly ; “ he must be in an extraordinary mood, 
to admit another person into his business. Have you 
ever been in intimate connection with him?” 

“Only as people grow acquainted on a journey !” an- 
swered Hugo, becoming attentive; “is there anything 
special the matter with the man ? ” 

The old innkeeper shoved back his cap, and said: 
“Nothing that I need speak of; but I am almost sorry 
that you are to make a beginning there ! ” 

The young man was not at all in a mood to let himself 
be troubled about his new luck ; involuntarily, a com- 
parison came into his mind between the proprietor of the 
little inn and the merchant, who lived in the circles of 
good society, and, almost with a tone of irony, he asked: 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


119 


“ Do you think I should run any risk by being with 
him?” 

“ If you mean in regard to what he may have promised 
you, certainly not ! ” was the quiet answer ; “ his money 
is so safely invested, that it cannot be taken from him ; 
but — well!” the speaker interrupted himself, “I could 
tell you a good deal, and yet you would n’t understand 
me ; there are many things here out of which one could 
make a good story. But I will say one thing : I am the 
alderman Marquart, what is called councilman in Ger- 
many, and I mean well to you, for your countryman here 
has told me all about you. If you ever feel doubtful 
about one thing or another that meets you in your work, 
only come to me, and I will talk to you as true friend to 
friend ; and perhaps, too, the councilman is precisely the 
person that you will want ! ” He rose slowly, and went 
to the back of the room. 

Hugo turned a look of inquiry to the joiner, w T ho made 
a wonderful grimace. “ A bar-keeper like you ought to 
have suited his taste, really ! ” he said, half aloud, and 
with a nod he rose to leave the room. 


VI. 


THE DISAPPOINTMENT. 

I N the afternoon Hugo was sitting by the side of his 
new principal in a light, elegant “buggy,” which a 
large splendidl} 7 made trotting-horse was drawing like the 
wind along the street that led from the river, and the 
feeling of entering again the circle with which his pre- 
vious inclinations and habits agreed, created in him an 
ease and assurance, which even the thought of his first 
meeting with her whom he expected to see in the next 
half-hour, could not affect — yet her image was interwoven 
with all the dreams and fancies of his future life. What- 
ever of the remarkable expressions of his host had clung 
to him, was for the present banished to the back-ground. 
“ I have eyes and a judgment,” he had said to the joiner, 
“ and I shall soon find out for myself on what basis the 
whole thing rests ; until then, I shall not embitter my 
life ! ” Notwithstanding this, he had been induced by an 
undefined feeling to say nothing to Winter about his 
quarters in the German inn, and in answer to his ques- 
tions, had only mentioned his lodgings at the American 
hotel. 

The rapid drive was not conducive to much conversa- 
tion between the two men ; only on a long piece of rising 
ground, Winter said, as if seizing the opportunity, “ It 
will be the best plan to keep a horse in the city for you ; 

120 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


121 


there is one that never comes out of his stall since my 
daughter has stopped using him. Then you can give 
your time quite independently to my children, as your 
office-work may permit. If you don’t care to be at the 
expense of special lodgings, a room over my place of 
business can be prepared for you, that I have not used 
for some time ; besides, I should be glad to know that 
you were there at night, for old Henderson is getting a 
little infirm ; but of course this is in no way to abridge 
your freedom ! ” 

Hugo, who for the time had given himself up only to 
the agreeable feelings which Winter’s friendliness awoke 
in him, without seeking any particular explanation of it, 
had declared himself perfectly satisfied in advance with 
every arrangement in regard to his situation, and then 
the increased speed of the horse again prevented conver- 
sation. After a ride, that from the river out, had taken 
scarcely half an hour, the white, tasteful country-house 
rose above the crown of foliage on Oakhill, the carriage 
soon turned from the street into a road leading upwards ; 
and only now, when the domain lay immediately before his 
eyes, the young man began to experience a sort of anxiety 
from which he vainly strove to free himself. The car- 
riage reached the top of the hill and passed round the 
house. Winter pointed to the lovely view opening before 
them ; but Hugo only uttered mechanically an assenting 
“ Brilliant, sir ! ” His whole attention was directed to 
the portico of the house, whence his ear had caught the 
sudden rustling of a woman’s dress. He turned his head 
as a servant sprang up to take the horse, and saw a 
pretty, girlish figure flitting down the open staircase like 
a bird, but stopping all at once at sight of a stranger, 
11 


122 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


and looking at him with a charming blush, half curious, 
half confused. 

“ Here, Carry, I have brought you a partner for your 
music, who will show you the true art ! ” cried Winter, 
springing out of the carriage. “ Mr. Zedwitz, from Ber- 
lin, who entered my employment to-day,” he continued, 
introducing him, as Hugo followed him quickly ; “ my 
daughter Carry, sir ! And now take our guest into the 
parlor, child; I will call down your mother and John, 
so that we may all become acquainted.” He bowed to 
the young man, and went into the house. Carry looked 
up at Hugo with sparkling eyes. “You are from Berlin, 
sir, and are now in my father’s employment ? Oh ! then 
you must tell us a great many things; it must be so 
enchanting in Europe ! ” she said. “ But pray come in.” 

She hastened up the steps to show him the way, and 
he followed her in a sudden confusion of ideas. This 
was Winter’s daughter? who was she , then, whom he 
had expected to find here? Winter had indicated his 
wife and son as the only remaining members of his fam- 
ily, and so she, whose name he had never known, appeared 
not to stand in the closest relation to him; but yet — 
Hugo remembered it distinctly — he had mentioned her 
as his daughter in connection with the Berlin affair! 
But the young man had to make an effort to dismiss all 
these perplexing thoughts, lest they should become evi- 
dent; Carry had opened the room in which the piano 
was standing, and she invited him into it with so bright 
a look, with such unconcealed pleasure in her animated 
face, that even under the pressure of his disappointment 
he felt the cheering influence of this frank nature. 

“You play the piano, sir?” she asked, giving him a 
chair, and seating herself on a sofa near him ; “ then I 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


123 


shall have hopes of taking up my practising again ; it 
is so tiresome to play all alone when one really has 
learned a piece; now that Jessy isn’t in the house, I 
have lost nearly all my fondness for it ! ” 

Hugo looked up quickly. “You refer to a young 
lady who used to live in your house, Miss, ” he said, giv- 
ing his tone as much as possible the character of easy 
conversation ; “ and it just occurs to me that I met a 
young lady in Mr. Winter’s company in Switzerland and 
Berlin—” 

“Oh, so that was you!” interrupted the girl; “I 
almost expected it ! Jessy is married, sir, and she will 
assuredly be delighted to see you in her house ; it will 
be a week to-morrow since she left Oakhill ! ” 

The German looked at the speaker for an instant as if 
he thought he had not heard correctly ; it seemed to him 
that a stony hand was pressing on his heart. He felt 
himself becoming as pale as death ; but he immediately 
recognized the necessity of keeping an iron mastery over 
himself, and a sudden sensation of self-contempt for the 
fancies, the ideas of the girl’s peculiar charms, to which 
he had weakly sacrificed his prospects in Germany, gave 
him back his senses quickly enough. “Married!” he 
said, “perhaps it is the Mr. Graham, who was then her 
companion, to whom Miss Winter is married?” He was 
unable to suppress a sound of irony in his tone, and when 
he looked up, he met a singular, half-meditative glance 
from Carry. 

“It is indeed Mr. Graham, who has become Jessy’s 
husband,” she answered, without changing the expression 
of her eyes, “were you acquainted with the gentleman, 
sir?” 

“O less than slightly!” he answered, rising; 


you 


124 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


spoke of your piano, Miss, it would give me pleasure to 
be able to make practising agreeable to you ; at all events, 
we are two, and so we can mutually represent a public 
for our performances — you are probably a little virtuoso , 
before whom I must do my best ? ” 

“ O, you make me afraid even to touch the key-board, 
by your expectations ! ” she said, laughing, and seeming 
scarcely to notice, in the vivacity of his manner, the re- 
markable change of subject; “here you see what I played 
last,” she added, taking a piece of music from the piano, 
“ now you can form your own opinion ! ” 

Hugo began to turn over the leaves, becoming appa- 
rently quite absorbed in certain places ; but he saw little 
more than the rows of notes. Before his mind stood only 
the dark, complicated riddle; she, the proud, independent 
character, the wife of a man for whom she had shown 
such evident contempt ; — ■ - he felt relieved when the door 
opened and Winter came in, with his wife and son. Not- 
withstanding the self-control which he strove to maintain, 
he felt for the next quarter of an hour as if acting in a 
dream ; while he spoke, it seemed to him as if the un- 
expected news had affected him like a blow upon his head. 
In those, who had just entered, he saw an elderly, plain 
woman, who gave him her hand, and a pale, slender boy 
of perhaps ten years of age, who looked at him half in 
terror, but seemed to gain confidence in him as he talked. 
He saw that the mother smiled at his attentions to her, 
and Winter nodded contentedly, and yet he felt that his 
brain and tongue were working half mechanically, and 
it was only Carry’s glance, which he sometimes met, that 
reached his inner consciousness. He was invited to stay 
to supper, but he felt it to be an impossibility, and asked 
permission to arrange his private affairs for his entrance 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


125 


into his new position, and at a slight gesture of Winter, 
to whom the young man’s wish appeared only natural, 
his wife ceased her well-meant urgency. Hugo took his 
departure, received a slight pressure of the hand from 
Carry, and found himself alone with Winter in the open 
air, with a feeling of being freed from a spell. 

“ I hold our engagement as decided, sir,” said Winter. 

“ I see that you are not uncomfortable among us, and I 
hope to make an agreement with you as to financial 
questions, as soon as I come to my place of business to- 
morrow. Then anything else can be arranged. A ser- 
vant is just saddling your horse, Henderson will tell you 
where to put him up, and then you can attend to your 
affairs without further trouble. The room is kept ready 
for emergencies, and if anything should be wanting in it, * 
it can be remedied to-morrow.” 

No reason that Hugo, in the secrecy of his soul, had 
given himself for Winter’s friendliness towards him, 
seemed satisfactory now that he had heard of Jessy’s 
marriage ; and involuntarily, a kind of astonishment 
came over him, at the good-will of his future principal, 
which he was unable to explain by the simple relation 
of a business-man to his employee. Even if his former 
position in society had contributed to this regard for him, 
he had, on the other hand, given not a single proof of his 
business capacity, and in the silent, inward excitement 
that gave all his sensibilities a peculiar keenness, he said: 
“Your kindness makes me almost anxious, Mr. Winter; 

I do not yet know whether my capabilities will satisfy your 
demands, as you seem to expect, and there is no reason 
for such special favor, as I have to thank you for al- 
ready — ” 

Winter’s hand, which was laid on his shoulder, inter- 
11 * 


126 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


rupted his words. “ Good, sir! ” he answered, “I am glad 
to see that you recognize my desire to make your be- 
ginning in our country easy. You are right — I could 
have had twenty young men, more accustomed to routine 
than you are ; but it is my principle to engage no one 
who might leave my employ to-morrow, with the same in- 
difference with which he entered it to-day. I know you only 
superficially, through your acquaintance with my daugh- 
ter, and our own first meeting ; but it is enough for me 
to form a judgment of your character. Where you attach 
yourself, you will do it with your whole soul ; you will 
make the interests of any business that you enter, your 
own ; and so I act only for my own advantage, when I 
take full possession of you and try to make you at home 
as quickly as possible. The claims of your various duties 
will show themselves soon enough, so take things as they 
come ! — There is the horse,” he added, as a fine, fiery 
animal was led prancing towards them ; “ he has been 
standing for some time, and you will have to hold the 
bridle well ; Jessy taught him but little gentleness at any 
rate ! ” 

The German could do scarcely anything, after the ex- 
planation that had been given him, but thank his destiny, 
so he turned his attention to the animal that had once 
been her property ; a feeling came over him, that it was 
a memorial of lost happiness that she had left behind 
her. He took the bridle, and patted coaxingly the neck 
of the horse, looked into his animated eye and spoke 
soothing words to him, examined amid his caresses the 
security of the girth, and when under his hands the horse 
had grown quiet, he gathered up the bridle and sprang 
lightly into the saddle. The animal scarcely felt the 
burden, but reared and tried to escape from the reins ; 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


127 


twice he wheeled in a circle under his rider’s controlling 
hand ; then he seemed to recognize a master, and listened 
quietly to his pacifying words ; he stood foaming at his 
bit, while Hugo gave his hand to his employer, who said, 
laughingly: “You are the man, sir! you have subdued 
him without much trouble ! ” He bowed to Carry, who 
had been watching him from the portico with sparkling 
eyes, and rode off. 

Only when he found himself on the broad street, with 
his horse going in a regular, quick trot, did he try to ar- 
range his scattered thoughts; but without success. It 
seemed to him as if he had lost every definite aim in life, 
and yet he was in a situation that looked so pleasant on 
all sides, that he could hardly cherish a feeling of mis- 
fortune. The movements of the horse under him, the 
thought of having it at his own exclusive disposal, ex- 
cited his blood healthily; Carry’s clear, vivacious eyes 
came before him, and now, when he unconsciously drew 
a comparison between the two sisters, when Jessy’s tall 
figure, her deep-blue, wonderful eyes, and the peculiar 
grace that distinguished her whole appearance, rose before 
his inner vision, the full pain of a dead hope seized 
him, a hope of which he had been scarcely conscious, 
however deeply it had penetrated his thoughts and feel- 
ings; he began to fathom the contradiction that lay 
between this marriage and the proud nature of the 
maiden — he thought that she must have known his 
feelings, she must have known that he would come, and 
he could sooner believe in a riddle, which as yet he was 
unable to solve, than in a free consent on her part to this 
strange, hasty alliance. 

The twilight was beginning to fall, as Hugo rode into 
the city ; in a short time he reached Winter’s place of 


128 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


business, where the gray-headed man, whom he had seen 
that morning in the office, was just shutting the doors. 
Hugo told him of his intended situation, and gave him 
his hand in token of good-fellowship; Henderson took 
it and with an oddly-inquiring look that ran over the 
whole person of the young man. “ I know already what 
is needed, sir,” he said, “ and I think we shall agree ; 
when you come back, you shall find everything ready.” 
He showed him the way through a side-door to the upper 
story, and told him of a neighboring livery-stable for his 
horse, and in a few minutes Hugo was standing again 
before the German inn. The lighted tap-room was nearly 
filled with guests — young people in their working-clothes, 
and old men with long German pipes — but in the midst 
was moving a figure in shirt-sleeves, and Hugo recognized 
quickly the bar-keeper who had taken his place. Behind 
the counter the host was occupied in filling and emptying 
the glasses, and seeming to w r atch and direct the move- 
ments of ' the new assistant ; this was the scene in which 
Hugo felt that he might have taken a chief part as the 
beginning of his American life, and drawing an uncon- 
scious breath, as if the thought oppressed him even yet, 
he sat down at a side- table to refresh himself before un- 
dertaking the removal. 

The loud conversation of the guests at the principal 
table appeared to be centred around some subject of 
common interest ; as far as the young man could under- 
stand, in his ignorance of everything American, it related 
to the control of the city finances, and he heard, not with- 
- out astonishment, such a criticism of the conduct of high 
officials, as he had never encountered before in a public 
inn. A suspicion was expressed, that the debts contracted 
by the city far surpassed the permitted bounds, without 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


129 


being followed by a corresponding appropriation of money ; 
that all the public works were estimated as high again 
as they should have been, and only given to men who 
would be satisfied with half of the sum for w'hich they 
gave receipts ; that the smaller city bonds were artfully 
depreciated, so that they might be bought up at moderate 
rates and counted again at full price to the city. A whole 
system of corruption was indicated, by which the heads 
of the city government enriched themselves, without a 
possibility of the tax-payer’s gaining an insight into the 
mischief. Hugo listened with lively interest to this reve- 
lation of American affairs, was surprised at the clear com- 
prehension of the young men, who from their appearance 
were only working-men, and he forgot for a little while 
his own concerns. 

Just then the host came slowly from behind the coun- 
ter. “Yes, what you say is good,” he said, pushing off* 
his cap ; “ but it won’t alter anything unless a sensible 
deed follows, as it may do, in a quiet and legal way ! ” 

“Quiet and legal!” laughed a young man, who seemed 
to be the chief speaker ; “ have you yourself never pro- 
posed an examination in the city council, Father Mar- 
quart, and been overruled ? ” 

“I never even expected anything else!” said the other, 
nodding ; “ and so we have the right now to help our- 
selves in some other quiet way. I think we shall have 
a grand meeting of the citizens next week, which will 
appoint an examining committee by its own power. 
Whoever knows how to speak, must see that no German 
in his neighborhood stays at home. We shall not speak 
alone, but the official party too; money will not be 
spared, and there are enough anxious ones who predict 
that the city credit must fail under the growing suspicion. 

I 


130 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


That is to say, we must have a safe and respectable ma- 
jority! I could tell you more, but let every one hold 
himself in readiness; the affair is already pretty well 
arranged ! ” 

He turned from his hearers, among whom his commu- 
nication had aroused an eager and general conversation, 
and fixed his look upon the referendary. “Well?” he 
asked, nodding to him, “have you actually taken the 
place?” 

“I was just wishing to have my luggage taken away, 
and to thank you again for your friendliness ! ” 

“ I thought so ! but if it must be, old Marquart still 
remains your friend ; and if you ever, under any circum- 
stances, need a man who means honestly, you know where 
I live ! ” He pressed his guest’s hand, and called the 
porter to carry away his luggage. 

There was an oppression on the young man’s mind as 
he went through the dark streets to his future dwelling ; 
and he knew that it was not only the destruction of his 
unspoken dreams that burdened his soul : it was also the 
conversation that he had just heard, which had received, 
through Marquart’s words, a certain connection with 
what the host had told him in the morning of Winter’s 
business. And the less possibility he saw of getting an 
explanation for himself, the more he felt an undefined 
uneasiness arising within him. Only when he called up 
again the family scene that had been presented to him 
that day, when Winter’s quiet kindness came to his recol- 
lection, and when, going up the lighted stairs at his place 
of business, he found himself in an open, cheerful room 
that looked as pleasant and homelike to him as an asylum 
prepared by some good spirit — only then was he able to 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


131 


cast aside, by a strong resolve, all unquiet thoughts, and 
to defer his judgment. 

He had just dismissed the porter, and glanced at the 
arrangements of his room, when the old man appeared 
at the door, saying, “ Good luck to your arrival, sir ! 
My room is back, just beyond this, in case you have need 
of anything.” 

In his mood at the moment, Hugo thought that he 
could scarcely find a more welcome companion. “ I 
think I will look at your room another time, Mr. Hen- 
derson, and now we will smoke a cigar together here,” 
he answered ; “ a man has a good deal to ask who comes, 
as I have done, into an entirely unknown relation, and 
you will do, me a real favor by sitting awhile with me.” 
He pointed to a comfortable sofa, and opened his cigar- 
case. 

The old man stroked his chin, with a smile full of 
quiet humor. “ I smoke very seldom,” he replied, “ but 
I will put myself at your disposal to-night, since you have 
no better company ! ” He lighted the proffered cigar, 
and drew up a chair, placing himself rather rigidly op- 
posite the sofa. 

“You will think it strange,” began Hugo, sinking 
down comfortably on the soft cushions, “that I have not an 
idea of the business to which I am to belong ; I would not 
like to make my commencement in this utter uncertainty. 
Won’t you give me a kind of sketch of its nature, the 
way of conducting it, and anything else relating to it ? I 
would be heartily grateful to you.” 

The old man raised his eyebrows reflectively, while the 
humorous expression still played around his mouth. “I 
must tell you, sir,” he began after a short pause, looking 
on the floor, “ that I have been in the business as long as 


132 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


it has existed, but that I have made a rule to trouble 
myself only about what is entrusted to me. — And I have 
stood by it pretty well, sir,” he added slowly, looking up, 
“ I have done my work conscientiously without a thought 
or a care about things which I was yet unable to help 
seeing, and I have left all the rest to the principal. And 
I think, if you begin quietly, with the same rule, you will 
not long remain in ignorance. Our business is, as the 
sign implies, a commission and forwarding trade, that is 
carried on in several branches ; only wait to see where 
Mr. Winter places you, the knowledge will come of 
itself! ” 

Hugo looked in the old man’s face, but could not tell 
whether he was really as innocent as he seemed, or 
whether he wanted to give him a lesson for his future 
conduct ; meanwhile there was a sort of consolation in 
his words, and he answered the artless expression of the 
old man’s countenance with a look of frank good-humor. 
“At this rate, I shall certainly not have much to ask ! ” 
he said. 

“ Why not, sir ? ” was the quiet answer. “ Perhaps I 
know something more, outside of the business.’’ 

The young man pressed his hand on his eyes for a 
moment. “Well, I heard to-day the name of a Mr. 
Graham, who married Miss Winter lately,” he began ; 
then he rose quickly, to hold his cigar in the gaslight. 

Henderson nodded unnoticed, and a slight look of in- 
tentness came over his face, but vanished again, as the 
other took his place once more. 

“Do you know the gentleman, Mr. Henderson, or do you 
know how the affair happened so quickly? I became 
acquainted with Miss Winter in Germany scarcely two 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


133 


months ago, and I received no intimation then that she 
was to be married ! ” 

“ It must have been thought of though, for the arrange- 
ments for the wedding were so hasty that scarcely any one 
out of the house knew of it,” answered the old man, re- 
garding Hugo with an attentive look. “I don’t know 
very much about it myself, notwithstanding the con- 
fidence that Miss Jessy has put in me ever since her 
childhood. Mr. Graham comes to the office every day, 
and you can see him there to-morrow. No doubt you 
will call on Mrs. Graham, as you are acquainted with her?” 

Hugo considered the ashes of his cigar attentively. “ I 
scarcely know her well enough for that, and I don’t know 
that I should have a right to do so, in my present posi- 
tion !” he said, without looking up, and Henderson’s gaze 
fixed itself more sharply on his face. 

“I thought that Mr. Winter had spoken of some obli- 
gations to you, through which you had obtained admis- 
sion to his family!” he answered. “I should think Mrs. 
Graham, who at any rate is lonely, as her husband is 
occupied all day, would be glad to see a European ac- 
quaintance again, with whom she could talk ! ” 

There was something strange in the speaker’s tone, 
that made the German look up quickly, but he met only 
a good-natured innocent face. “ I have entered Mr. 
Winter’s family only as a teacher,” he replied, “ and it 
is best for a man not to go beyond the circle which is 
assigned him. Mrs. Graham will be very unlikely to 
miss me ! ” But the last words appeared to him, as soon 
as they were spoken, to say more than he had intended ; 
against his will, a tone out of his wounded heart had 
sounded in them, and he rose and turned to his luggage, 
as if he wished to find some new subject. 

12 


134 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


Henderson looked down, nodded, as if confirmed in his 
own thoughts, and immediately left his place. “ You will 
desire to unpack and arrange your possessions, I ’d better 
leave you alone, sir,” said he; “if you are in need of 
anything whatever, you know where I am!” 

Hugo felt no longer in the mood to detain him, and 
the man was right besides — the new-comer had to put 
his effects in order and make himself at home, if he 
would be ready to begin his work the next day. He 
pressed the old man’s hand, and when the door closed 
behind him, he opened his trunk, and gave himself with 
energy to his new arrangements. But it was not long, 
before detached sentences of their late conversation began 
to echo in his ears. — “Mrs. Graham, who is very lonely” 
— and he strove in vain to picture to himself the seclu- 
sion of so sparkling a being as she had seemed to him. 
And why did she live alone, she, who could have been 
the crown of the social circle ? Then followed the idea 
of a visit to her, which Henderson had spoken of, and 
he pressed his hand on his brow. His whole longing, to 
look again into those wonderful eyes, to revel in her 
beaming smile, awoke suddenly within him ; he had never 
thought of anything further than simply seeing her again ; 
and yet when he now thought of meeting her, he realized 
that his feelings had been rooted in silent hopes, that had 
now vanished like mist. She was married ; what else had 
he to expect, than that she would meet him with the friendly 
courtesy of a young wife, but not even by the slightest 
change of color intimate the remembrance of a moment 
that he could never forget? What could her eye, her 
smile, say to him now, but that he had been a fool ? He 
must efface that which still lived in him, and if he could 
not, he must at least guard his outward demeanor, in 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


135 


case of his ever being in her presence — with his own 
consent, however, the last should never be ! 

He had gone almost unconsciously to the window, and 
seated himself there, looking out into the dark night, with 
his head resting on his hand. From the street there now 
sounded up to him the softened tones of an organ : 

“ How can it ever be 
That I can part from thee?” 


and he buried his face in his hands and wept over the lost 
happiness of his life. 


VII. 


MEETING AGAIN. 


HEN Hugo came back the next morning from his 



vv breakfast at the nearest inn, to which Henderson 
had directed him, he found Winter’s carriage before the 
door of his place of business, and fearful of having de- 
layed beginning his hours of occupation, he hastened to 
reach the office. But the book-keeper’s place was also 
empty, and Winter, standing at an open money-chest, 
turned to him with a smiling face. “ I am glad that you 
are here already,” he said, “ our work begins, according 
to rule, not before eight o’clock, but I should like to send 
a commission to Europe by the next steamer, and I have 
just discovered that not a moment is to be lost. So that 
you can at once enter on your office as German correspon- 
dent. Take possession of my desk for the present ; to- 
morrow, things shall be arranged more comfortably. 
Here are the necessary data, which I have set down for 
you ; you can tell me, if you do not understand every- 
thing in them ; here are some price-lists which I give you, 
that you may insert the needful estimates in your letters; 
here is the copying-book, which is used only for affairs 
of this kind, and you will learn the manner of making 
the entries, from the foregoing cases. Now look quietly 
over the matter. I need not tell you that in a merchant’s 
office there is nothing so insignificant as not to require the 


136 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


137 


strictest secrecy — then tell me if you want anything fur- 
ther by way of elucidation.” 

It was not without some timidity that the young man 
took the papers, which required his action in a sphere en- 
tirely new to him ; he looked through the leading notes, 
while Winter lighted a cigar, and slowly walked up and 
down the room ; but he soon saw that he could scarcely 
go wrong in his w T ork. It related to the sale of a number 
of city bonds through various banking-houses in Germany, 
and to the securities which the papers offered, as well as 
the special advantage of the business to the negotiator. 
The statements were so exact, that as soon as he had 
grasped the facts of the case, he had no doubts as to his 
work ; but for still greater security he turned to the mer- 
chant and gave him a sketch of what he intended to 
write. 

“ Excellent ! ” nodded Winter, a look of satisfaction 
playing around his mouth ; “ one can hear that you are 
naturally an advocate, and know how to enter your case. 
If you do not let yourself be overcome by the first dif- 
ficulties of your new position, but go on firmly as you 
have begun, I will guarantee you a future! We have 
until noon, to get the commission ready to send, and I 
will come back by that time, to give the signature.” He 
took his hat and went to his carriage, and Hugo pro- 
ceeded to make himself at home in his allotted place, 
which offered every convenience for his work. For some 
minutes, he examined the value-lists lying before him, 
which were of a kind quite new to him ; but soon his eye 
was attracted by one of the signatures : “ Charles B. 
Graham, Comptroller.” Was it Winter’s son-in-law, who 
filled this important office in the management of the city 
finances? With this involuntary question, there came to 
12 * 


138 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


his remembrance all the imputations which had yester- 
day, in the German inn, been heaped upon the financial 
officers of the city ; he thought of the mysterious hints 
of the host, concerning Winter’s business, and for a mo- 
ment a slight uneasiness came over him with regard to his 
own position ; but an attentive glance at the obligations 
took away his undefined fears. The papers, as it was 
clearly expressed, were drawn up according to a fixed 
law, all forms were apparently satisfied, and Winter had 
evidently undertaken to realize them, simply as a matter of 
business. Hugo quietly began his work ; but he stopped 
again just after commencing his first letter. Winter 
sold the city obligations with twenty-five per cent, dis- 
count, though the security was abundant, and the rate of 
interest double what was customary in Germany, and it 
struck the writer as remarkable, that a man should send 
to Europe, to dispose of good paper at such a price. 
However, Winter had recorded that the city authorities 
had given him the power to make the abatement, in order 
to avoid further delay in concluding the affair, and with 
a shake of the head, Hugo went on writing — he had, at 
all events, too little experience in money matters, to be 
able to trust his own judgment. 

In a quarter of an hour the bookkeeper came in, gave 
only a hasty glance to the new-comer, and took his place, 
burying himself at once in his work. Henderson was 
occupied in the outer room, among the bales and barrels, 
and he came but once into the office, seeming to trouble 
himself quite as little as the other about his new asso- 
ciate, who continued his labor without looking up, so as 
not to come behind Winter’s expectations. A half hour 
before noon he seized the copying book, to make an end 
of his occupation, and his first look at the open pages 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


139 


told him that hitherto the book had been managed by the 
principal alone. The entries were in a tabular form, and 
Hugo’s eye ran over affairs of the most multifarious kinds, 
which, as he turned further back, amounted to many mil- 
lions in value ; the stock disposed of had gone to the 
most diverse parts of Europe, but the relations with Ger- 
many seemed to have been just opened. Involuntarily, 
the young man glanced round the simple room, with its 
old bookkeeper, where such sums had been negotiated, and 
out to the goods in the forwarding-room, whose profits, by 
the side of the other business, could scarcely pay for the 
trouble. Then a half wonder arose in him, that Winter 
had permitted him so unconditional a research into his 
affairs, on the first day of his entrance. If the man wished 
to gain him over by immediate confidence, and so to se- 
cure most successfully his discretion, he had taken the 
best possible way ; yet Hugo felt himself more oppressed 
than pleased by it ; a constant feeling was in the back- 
ground of his mind, that he dared not give himself unre- 
servedly to a position which was not yet quite clear to him, 
whatever reason he had to consider it as the greatest good 
luck. 

Exactly at noon Winter came into the office. He 
looked hastily over the neatly written German letters, and 
said playfully : “ I understand nothing of them, and I 
must give myself entirely into your hands.” But he went 
more carefully through Hugo’s notes in the copying-book, 
and then nodded as if satisfied, locking up the book 
again in a compartment .of the iron safe. “Now go to 
dinner,” he said; “I will attend to the rest, myself. As 
for the afternoon,” he added, smiling, “ Carry will expect 
you : I had to promise her not to keep you here.” 

Hugo bowed silently. The man’s whole manner was 


140 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


so agreeable, and yet it seemed to Hugo that he would 
rather have been in the simple relation of business-assist- 
ant to him, than to have a smaller duty laid upon him, to 
be done from gratitude. 

As Hugo went toward the steps leading to his room, 
Henderson came toward him from the front door with a 
significant look. “If you want to become acquainted 
with Mr. Graham, he is just coming,” said he half aloud. 
“ Oh, well ! ” he added, as if answering the expression of 
Hugo’s face, “ you won’t break your neck to see him : it 
is with you as with me — these are private affairs, and I 
may speak of them.” He gave the young man a humor- 
ous look full of intelligence, and turned away to the goods 
lying near ; the German went up stairs, and sought in 
vain the meaning of the speech ; and only when he had 
reached his room, and recalled his conversation with the 
old man the evening before ; when single looks, and the 
tone of many words came into his mind, he asked himself 
whether it was possible that the man guessed more of his 
feelings for Mrs. Graham, than was well under the pres- 
ent circumstances. 

He had fastened the door, and was about to dress him- 
self for the visit to Winter’s family, when a double tread 
on the stairs interrupted his thoughts. The persons passed 
his room ; but he soon heard through the side wall a sound 
of chairs pushed about, and the first loud word convinced 
him that somewhere under the wall-paper, a thin place, 
a former door perhaps, must exist ; and he unconsciously 
stopped moving. 

“ They are raging like dogs, Winter,” said an excited 
voice ; “ they want to have a meeting of the citizens, and 
appoint a committee of examination. I have received 
already the names of those who wish to set them on us. 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


141 


Heaven knows where the traitor is, but I know that they 
have information of details, that will compel me to pro- 
duce the books, unless we make every exertion to suppress 
the whole movement. And now take the case in hand 
among your friends : it is high time for it. If the mer- 
cantile world opposes this inquiry as an undermining of 
the city credit, our game is won.” 

“Well !” sounded Winter’s serene voice, “I scarcely 
think, my dear Graham, that I shall move a finger in 
this affair. I knew long ago what would happen, but I, 
as a business man in no way involved, would invite un- 
necessary suspicion upon myself, if I should take with 
conspicuous activity the part of the city officials.” 

“ Then do you suppose that you are beyond suspicion, 
sir ? ” cried Graham, with an irritated laugh. 

“So much the less will I strengthen it. You are at 
any rate my son-in-law, which brings me into connection 
with you in the public opinion : but what have I to do, 
besides, with the control of the city finances ? ” 

“ Nothing, to be sure, but to put your share of the gains 
into your pocket. Ho you know, sir, that I cannot tell, 
at this moment, which to repent of most : the first step 
that I took toward a business alliance with you, or the 
last, which made me your son-in-law?” 

Winter laughed in quite a natural tone. “ Good, truly 
good,” he cried ; “ have I not, in both, simply yielded to 
your most pressing entreaty? You are more excited 
than is good for you, Graham. What there is between 
you and Jessy, I don’t know, and it is not my affair ; but 
for the rest, tell me what is the matter. Have you any- 
thing in your books that would make you fear an exami- 
nation ? So far as my business relations with the city go, 


142 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


all your entries are innocence itself — why do you trouble 
yourself about this farce of an inquiry ?” 

“ Have n’t I told you that the chief complainants have 
knowledge of single details, which, just because my books 
make no reference to them, must bring a perfect storm 
upon us, if we do not become masters of the present 
movement ? I say again, sir, unite your power with ours, 
if you do not wish to be drawn into the vortex yourself.” 

“And I tell you, Mr. Graham,” said Winter’s voice, 
significantly, “that I do not understand you; that I do 
not see the slightest reason why I should mix myself in 
things that are absolutely foreign to me. I have been 
the agent of the city, that is all ; what is the inner man- 
agement of things to me ? ” 

“ Aha !” said the other, with a short, constrained 
laugh ; “ you draw your head out of the snare, and take 
the booty with you. Very well; so may every man go 
his own way, without obligations to any other. From to- 
day, Mr. Winter, we are separate persons.” 

“ I see no reason for that ,” was the quiet answer ; “ it 
will perhaps be necessary to show this examining party 
that no one will trouble himself about them. Make the 
arrangements for a ball when the movement is at its full 
height, and I will see with pleasure that my friends shall 
all be there — such a thing has more effect on public opinion 
than a justification, which places you on the same footing 
with your opponents. Besides, you have not had any 
company in your house since your marriage.” 

“ I will judge for myself what is necessary,” was Gra- 
ham’s answer. “ The city bonds that were last issued are 
still in your hands, sir ; under the present circumstances 
I will ask them of you again.” 

“ I am very sorry not to be able to comply with your 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


143 


wishes ; the papers have already gone, and it would make 
me and the city a laughing-stock to order them sent 
back.” 

A short pause ensued ; then Hugo heard the chairs 
moved, and Winter said : “ I will go part of the w T ay 
with you ; it is to be hoped that I may see you to-morrow 
less excited, and ready to give things their true value.” 

A door closed, and the same steps as before approached 
the stairs. As they passed the German’s room, an attempt 
was made to open the door, and Hugo supposed that 
Winter had recollected too late the possibility of his pres- 
ence. Finding the room closed had apparently reassured 
him ; the young man heard them both go into the street, 
and then he threw himself on the sofa, in utter uncer- 
tainty as to his next step. That the suggesters of an 
examination into the management of the finances had 
full cause for their conduct; that Winter was at least 
partially initiated into the unfair dealings spoken of, and 
had turned them to his own advantage, was quite clear to 
him ; but was he, on account of something in the past, to 
give up his own scarcely attained position now, when that 
kind of doings seemed to have come to an end? He 
could not, at any rate, judge how much guilt ought to 
fall on the head of Winter, who apparently felt himself 
in full security. He tried to recall to his memory what 
Marquart, the host and alderman, had said about Winter 
— but it was only vague hints ; he would gladly have 
spoken again with the man who seemed to be in possession 
of definite facts, if he had not feared to show, in this way, 
a kind of disloyalty to the house of which he now formed 
a part. Besides, what prospect would he have for his 
future subsistence, if he left his present situation from 
perhaps unnecessary scruples ? He stood up, and began 


144 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


to walk about bis room, until the thought that Winter 
might come back and discover his presence, urged him 
to leave the house. He had at least taken a resolution 
for the present. He saw more clearly than before, and 
he would wait until some especial event should enable 
him to justify to himself, as well as to his employer, the 
giving up of his position. 

As he came out of the room he saw Henderson standing 
near the steps, and looking at him intently. “You have 
heard everything,” he said, in a low voice, slowly going 
up to him ; “but I think it won’t do any harm. That is 
the business which this Mr. Graham does, with which he 
has befooled the principal in spite of all his foresight and 
prudence, and which, into the bargain, has brought Miss 
Jessy into the net. I have known what would come at 
last, even if I have n’t dared to speak of it ; and I shall 
see the comptroller in the State-prison yet. Only have 
patience, sir, everything will be right ; Mr. Winter will 
not let himself be caught, and Miss Jessy will have her 
rights ; be silent, and wait.” 

Hugo felt the blood rush into his face, without being 
able entirely to guess the meaning of the speech. “ I 
don’t know what you mean,” he said, with hesitation ; 
“ I have as yet too little insight into business affairs, and 
moreover, what concerns Mr. Graham — ” 

“ All right, sir,” interrupted the old man, a gleam of 
humor coming suddenly over his face ; “ I know at least 
what I mean. You are surely called Hugo Zedwitz ? ” 
He looked at the German, as if amused at the uncertain 
expression of his countenance ; then nodded, and went to 
his room. 

Hugo could scarcely doubt any longer, that some cir- 
cumstance had made the old man suspect a previous rela- 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


145 


tion between him and Jessy, and the more he sought an 
explanation the more decidedly he came back to the single 
possibility, that the young lady herself must have given 
occasion for a conjecture of the kind ; the old man had 
yesterday boasted of her confidence. According to the 
remarks that Graham had just made, she could not be 
living happily, and a strange feeling rushed over him 
when he thought of the possibility of meeting her in the 
present circumstances. 

He had eaten his dinner, and ridden to Winter’s farm, 
repressing with difficulty the thoughts which the various 
events of the morning had called up within him ; scarcely 
had his horse’s hoof sounded near the house, when Carry 
came to the door, and greeted him with a beaming look. 
A change had taken place in her appearance : her hair 
was fastened smoothly, her dress fitted closely the fine 
outline of her figure, and Hugo seemed for the first time 
to have eyes for this fresh, blooming girl. When a ser- 
vant had taken his horse, she gave him her hand with 
unconcealed joy, and a bright color came into her cheeks 
as he looked at her with involuntary pleasure. “You 
will have to be satisfied for the present with me alone,” 
she said, preceding him into the house; “John is sick 
again, and he will not let mother leave him; but I have 
gone quite industriously through a piece that I will play 
for you ; then you will have to criticise me as I deserve, 
and I shall know for the future what I am to fear.” With 
a droll look, she drew up a chair for him before he could 
prevent it, and opened the piano. 

“Were you afraid of your last teacher, then?” he 
asked, stimulated by the entire frankness, which gave an 
unusual charm to the girl’s whole being. 

“ O, my last teacher, that was quite another thing,” she 
13 K 


146 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


said ; “ I think she was rather more afraid of me. But 
wait,” she interrupted herself, suddenly listening, “besides 
my piece I had something else for you, and there it is 
already, I think. Sit still, we have heard nothing.” 

She held her head up with the intent air of a child 
that is expecting the development of some pre-arranged 
surprise, and Hugo looked smilingly into the clear, rosy 
face, that seemed as if it had never been touched by any 
thought that needed veiling ; he was occupied more with 
this contemplation than with the expectation of what was 
to come. 

A carriage stopped before the house, and in another 
minute the door of the room was opened. Hugo looked 
round, and started from his seat — the blood left his face. 
Meanwhile Carry sprang toward the slender, girlish fig- 
ure that had just entered the room, but had stopped as 
if alarmed, seized her hand, and cried, introducing her 
guests with comical gravity : “ Mr. Zedwitz from Berlin, 
now in business with Mr. Winter — my sister Jessy, now 
Mrs. Graham ! ” She laughed merrily. “ Did n’t I 
promise you a surprise, Jessy ? ” 

The pale face of the young wife had for a moment taken 
an expression of rigidity ; but Carry had scarcely finished 
her speech, when a cold, quiet smile broke over her sis- 
ter’s features, and she went up to the German, holding 
out her hand. “ It is indeed a surprise to see you, sir,” 
she said, slowly ; “ I had not a suspicion of your being 
here, still less of so near a connection between you and 
Mr. Winter.” 

Before she spoke, Hugo’s glance had grasped her whole 
appearance ; there were the same proud neck, and the 
same wonderful eyes, that seemed almost to have gained 
new depth ; but the rosy color and the quick change of 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


147 


expression had vanished from her features ; her move- 
ments had lost their vivacity ; for the short moment dur- 
ing which he held her hand, it lay motionless in his, and 
the young man was penetrated with a peculiar sorrow : 
he scarcely knew whether it was for his unhappy love, 
which had awakened in its whole strength and hopeless- 
ness at Jessy’s entrance, or for her altered appearance, 
which reminded him of an unprotected flower that had 
been blighted by an early frost. 

“ But sit down again, sir ! ” she continued, slowly seat- 
ing herself on the sofa near her ; and Hugo, taking his 
previous seat, sought in her eyes in vain for a look that 
could intimate a remembrance of their former meeting. 
“ Do you intend to remain here, and in Mr. Winter’s em- 
ployment ? ” she added, in a quiet, conversational tone. 

“As much as a man can intend,” he answered, his 
gaze resting on her face, “ I intended to remain an official 
in Prussia, and I had to come to America ; I intended to 
do several things here, which have lost their inducement, 
and I am now in Mr. Winter’s employment, which I never 
intended. Have you never had similar experiences ? ” 

There was almost a bitter sound in his last words, and 
she looked down, but immediately raised her eyes again, 
and let them rest on her sister. “ Will you bring me a 
glass of fresh water, Carry?” she asked ; and, as the girl 
left the room, she raised her head^ quickly. Her face had 
grown paler, and her eyes had taken a deeper hue. “You 
have of course been told of the change in my circumstan- 
ces, and it has surprised you,” she said, while in the deep 
tones of her voice a slight agitation trembled ; “ you ap- 
pear not to have forgotten how I spoke to you once, on 
our European journey, about the gentleman who was one 
of my companions. But time and events often accom- 


148 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


plish more than we think, and so my position has quite 
naturally, even if unexpectedly, become changed, without 
my having anything to regret.” 

“ But why do you say that to me ? ” he said, interrupt- 
ing her, and vainly trying to repress his painful emotions, 
“ what right have I to the slightest explanation ? ” 

“ Certainly not a right,” she answered, raising her head, 
while a slight color came into her face ; “ hut, for one 
thing, I think that I still owe you a debt of gratitude for 
your friendly service, and for another, circumstances will 
now and then bring us together, so that I felt it necessary 
to say a word about that which has surprised you. I may 
also take this opportunity,” she continued, in a different 
tone, “ to say that I, on my part, am surprised to see you 
on the way to become an American merchant : I should 
not have suspected that you had a talent for it, from my 
short observation ! ” 

“Why not?” he answered, in a half-bitter tone; “a 
man may become anything, if he loses his footing, and 
has to reach after the nearest new support. You see that 
unexpected things have happened, even in relation to you, 
without your having anything to*regret!” 

A deep flu^>h shot into the face of the young wife, but 
he did not see it. As if he could no longer control his 
feelings, he had risen quickly with his last words, and 
turned away; but presently he came slowly back, evi- 
dently struggling with himself. 

“ I beg pardon, Mrs. Graham ! ” he said, impressively, 
“ but you ought not to have disturbed the dead, whom I 
had just buried. Even these words may be improper, but 
I promise you that my manner shall not again speak of a 
folly, that for the moment was stronger than I. Besides, 
you are right ; I feel already that I have no talent for 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


149 


becoming an American merchant, and if I keep my pres- 
ent situation for a few days longer, it is only because men 
who, like me, have been cast ashore, have not the choice 
of a new place every moment.” Just then the door 
opened to admit Carry, who had herself brought the 
water, and Hugo went towards her, as if in a hastily- 
formed resolve. “I have just thought of a piece of neg- 
ligence that makes me very sorry, as it calls me back to 
the city — ” 

“ Y ou are going away now ? ” interrupted the girl, in 
visibly displeased surprise, looking for an explanation at 
her sister. But the latter had risen, and opened a note- 
book on the piano. “ Father promised that you should 
be free from business to-day ! ” 

“It is only a private affair, but of so much importance, 
not only for myself, that you will surely excuse me,” he 
replied, turning to the other young lady as if to avoid 
further delay. “ Mrs. Graham, I ask your pardon once 
more ! ” 

She raised her head, and stretched out her hand to him ; 
but the hand trembled as he touched it, and so gentle a 
look met him from her earnest eyes, that he would scarcely 
have kept his hard-won self-control, if Carry had not come 
up to them with a petulant : “ This is too bad, Mr. Zed- 
witz, to spoil the whole afternoon for us, when I had ex- 
pected it with so much pleasure ! ” 

He had left the room, unfastened his horse, and ridden 
some distance, as if really making up for a dangerous 
neglect, before he succeeded in thinking clearly over the 
past meeting. It was J essy’s parting look that first came 
before him, and filled him with a feeling in which he 
could scarcely say whether joy or pain predominated ; 
then he called back slowly every part of what she had 
13 * 


150 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


said. She had covered herself with utter indifference, 
had wished to take a tone of easy acquaintanceship, and 
had even let herself down to the level of the most every- 
day character, to explain the inconsistency of her mar- 
riage, and so to chill him. But the falsity had not been 
able to stand before her uprising feelings ; it was only a 
single look full of truth, that he had received ; a single 
trembling pressure of the hand ; but everything had been 
in them, a full understanding and confession — how was 
he now to endure another meeting, which could not be 
avoided, in his existing connection with the family ? In 
what way her marriage had happened, which was not 
clear to old Henderson, must be indifferent to him — it 
had taken place, and if he did not wish to expose him- 
self constantly to useless martyrdom, he had only to leave 
his present position, which was, besides, so doubtful, that 
he would have felt himself happier in any other that 
would guarantee him a decent livelihood. Where this 
was to present itself, he truly did not know ; as yet, he 
had not made a single effort to try his luck in any other 
way. 

He had reached the point where the steam-ferry would 
take him to the city, but there he might encounter Win- 
ter, and have to invent a new excuse for a speedy return ; 
so he rode slowly, and with no plan but to kill the time, 
through the nearest roads that led into the country ; and 
only when he had for an hour permitted himself to be 
tossed about, now by his own thoughts and feelings, now 
by images from the past, did the longing to speak freely 
to some friend come upon him, and he thought of the 
joiner, of whose occupation he had no exact knowledge 
as yet. He turned his horse, and rode back : he was not 
afraid of meeting any one now, and just at twilight he 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


151 


stood before the German inn, to inquire where he could 
find the joiner. 

“ You will hardly be able to see him to-day,” the host 
informed him, in the inn-room — which for a wonder was 
empty ; “he lives here ; but all the Germans that belong 
to the examination party have taken holiday early to-day, 
and have gone to a mass-meeting on the mountain.” 

“And Mangold belongs to it already?” asked the new- 
comer after a short pause of astonishment, and with a 
slightly derisive tone. 

“Why not?” was the earnest answer; “no one can 
come too quickly into the right way, and what he does 
not yet know, he has now the best opportunity of learn- 
ing. But if you will accept some good advice in your 
present condition, don’t come here too often in the next 
few days, glad as I should otherwise be to see you.” 

“ And why not, Mr. Marquart, if I may be permitted 
the question ? ” said Hugo, looking very much surprised. 

“You need’nt make crooked faces about it ; I say it 
only for your own sake,” answered Marquart, giving him 
his hand good-humoredly. “ First, because your present 
employer would take it in very ill part to see you here in 
our society — he presses my hand whenever we meet, just 
about as if he were taming a stubborn mule with caresses ; 
he knows me, this Mr. Winter ! Secondly, because you 
might be easily taken for a spy, or the like ; since last 
evening, when you heard the discussions, our people re- 
cognize you, and know where you are in business ! ” 

Hugo passed his hand over his brow. He had already, 
then, on account of his position, become a marked person 
among the Germans. “At present, though, there is 
nothing to spy out here,” he said after a pause, with 
audible bitterness; “but I shall by no means put any 


152 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


constraint on my freedom on my employer’s account, so 
if you have no reason against drinking a glass of beer 
with me, I would like you to answer a question or two.” 

“ You take wrongly a well-meant word ; but — go on ! 
perhaps you will apologize to me yet ! ” answered the 
host, pushing back his cap, and then hastening for the 
beer-pitcher. 

“Tell me, Mr. Marquart, openly and intelligibly,” 
began the young man, when the host had brought the 
beer-glasses, and had seated himself comfortably near the 
speaker ; “ what has Winter’s business to do with all the 
things that X heard here last evening ? or at least, what 
is it with which the man is charged ? ” 

The old man made an extraordinary face under his 
cap. “ Open and clear ? if we had come as far as that, 
dear sir, we should not need an examining committee,” 
he said ; “ I have already told you that it takes some time 
to get the right meaning out of single things here.” 

“ That is to say, a suspicion exists,” continued the former 
referendary, as quietly as if he were sitting as magistrate, 
behind the bar of justice. “You can at least tell me, 
what kind of accusations against the city government they 
are, with which alone Winter could be connected, for he 
himself has no civil office.” 

Marquart looked half distrustfully into his guest’s face. 
“ Could ? why not ? anything can be, in America,” he 
answered slowly; “what is there in the mere being 
able?” 

“ That I may first get the right meaning of things, Mr. 

, Marquart,” said Hugo earnestly, “and that I need not 
think the Germans here to have gone so far in any fanati- 
cism or groundless judgment, as to stamp one of their own 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


153 


countrymen as a spy, because he wishes to earn an honor- 
able subsistence at Mr. Winter’s!” 

The host sat straighter on his chair, pushed off his cap, 
and looked at the young man with flashing eyes. “ Y ou 
* shall not say that of me, at least, sir!” he cried. “You 
have only been here since yesterday, and I have every 
reason to think you honorable ; but anybody must under- 
stand that I can call no man bluntly a rogue, before I 
have the proofs in my hands. Nevertheless, I will tell 
you the plain truth, and if you ever make me regret it — ” 

“You shall have nothing to regret!” answered Hugo 
quietly, but with a look of the greatest attention. 

“Well, sir,” Marquart continued, “we have the clear 
proofs in our hands, that more city bonds have been given 
out than the city has allowed ; yet the book of the 
Comptroller shows only the permitted amount, and the 
explanation is, that duplicate bonds of one and the same 
number have been sold to different holders. The money 
for the second spurious paper must have gone into the 
pockets of the Mayor and Comptroller; and if our cal- 
culation of the annual interest was right, which has just 
become noticeable through the rising suspicion, there is 
more than half a million of dollars of which the city 
has been cheated in this way. Well, sir! now will you 
say; ‘what has that to do with Winter?’ Mr. Graham, 
as Comptroller, has guarded himself from bringing the 
city obligations into the money market through his own 
business, just as, in other manipulations, which are about 
to be made pretty hot for him, he has always used another 
person as his assistant. This person, as far as can be 
found out, has always been Winter, and if he has done 
nothing more in these last cases than what an unscrupu- 
lous merchant could do, without being exactly guilty, yet 


154 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


it is strongly suspected, that he has given himself as nego- 
tiator for the sale of the duplicated city bonds. I have 
been here as long as Mr. Winter himself; I have seen 
his commencement, and I know what kind of business it 
was that helped him upon his feet; afterwards, there was 
no secret dealing between speculators and high officials, 
no quiet fraud in railroad affairs or the like, in which he 
had not a finger — I once saw his cards completely, when 
I was in the legislature ; when for a state building, that 
had already been paid for, the little extra grant of a 
million was extorted; since then, I am nothing but his 
‘dear, old friend/ whose hands he would shake off — we 
know one another, and therefore I know who has his 
hands in the city finances again.” 

Hugo rested his head on his hand. The forwarding of 
the bonds in the morning had gone through his mind 
during this speech, and yet he could not understand the 
carelessness with which Winter had entrusted his books 
to him, if the man had anything culpable to hide. There 
came before him again the conversation he had heard, 
which might well have given confirmation to the host’s 
representations, if Winter’s security in talking to the 
Comptroller had not shown that he had nothing to fear 
on account of his dealings. Then came the remarks of 
old Henderson, which betrayed Winter’s definite know- 
ledge and participation in the “ business” which Graham 
had undertaken, and at the same time intimated an in- 
fluence which had been exercised upon Jessy’s marriage 
with the Comptroller; and a perfect confusion of thoughts 
threatened to overpower Hugo entirely. 

“You take the man we are speaking of, then, for the 
receiver of the stolen money,” he began after a short 
pause, trying to work his v^ay to a clear view; “but here 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


155 


is a decided fact ; the issue of two bonds under one and 
the same number; an insight into Winter’s books must 
bring to light the reality as to their acceptance.” 

“ Hallo ! ” laughed Marquart ; “ you are really still so 
new in our affairs, that one would do you wrong by the 
smallest distrust. Do you suppose the man to be stupid 
enough to permit a wrong entry anywhere in his books? 
I do not believe that he has made in the whole business, 
a single stroke of the pen that could bear witness against 
him. For example, you met him in Germany — do you 
suppose he took that journey to amuse his daughter and 
son-in-law, and left his affairs here, without need, in the 
hands of old Henderson ? He and the Comptroller were 
probably contriving to have their obligations fulfilled 
without a letter. Neither do I believe that a decided 
complaint can be raised against Winter, if his own ac- 
complices do not betray him ; and what I have just said 
must be taken merely as a supposition, for which, truly, 
there is every ground, though one must be cautious in his 
expressions. Now you will at least understand how a 
German is looked at, who works at the present time for 
John Winter, who for a long time has suffered none but 
confidential companions in his business ! ” He rose, 
hastily putting on his cap, as if he thought he had said 
enough, and Hugo, repressing his thronging thoughts and 
half-formed resolution, until he should be alone, prepared 
to leave the house. 

It was beginning to grow dark, as he took the way to 
his lodgings ; half mechanically he went into the eating- 
house near by, to take some supper ; then he hastened to 
reach his room. 

At the open side-door of his place of business, from 
which there was a way up-stairs when the front entrance 


156 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


was closed, a colored woman was standing, talking with 
old Henderson. Both were silent as Hugo approached, 
and the woman seemed to examine his appearance with 
great curiosity. But he scarcely noticed her. With a 
slight, recognition, he went up stairs and opened his room 
door, glad to look his condition in the face without inter- 
ruption, and to be able to seek for a decided resolve. He 
had just thrown aside his hat, and begun an uneasy walk 
through the room, when Henderson came into the already 
dark apartment. “ Here is a letter for you,” said the old 
man ; “ you will need a light if you wish to read it,” and 
without waiting for Hugo’s permission, he struck a match 
and lighted the gas. 

The German stood still, and took with surprise from 
the old man’s hand a closed envelope, whose finely-writ- 
ten address showed his own name, correctly inscribed. 
“ From whom, Mr. Henderson ? ” he asked. 

“ I can not say, sir,” was the answer, though a look of 
humor was on the speaker’s mouth ; “ but Mrs. Graham’s 
maid brought it.” 

A quick color came into the young man’s face, but 
Henderson appeared not to notice it, as he nodded, say- 
ing : “ If you want to talk for a quarter of an hour again 
this evening — I am at home, sir,” and he left the room. 
In the next instant Hugo had opened the envelope, his 
eye fell upon the signature — “ Jessy Winter,” it said ; 
and for a second, various adventurous ideas shot through 
his brain. With agitation he began to read : 

“ Dear Friend. Is it not true that you will allow 
me to use this address, even though, for the moment, you 
can scarcely have a favorable idea of me ? I feel as if I 
■ need say to you only the simple words : There is no reason 
that should rob me of the smallest share of your esteem ; 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


157 


and you would grant me unconditional belief, in spite of 
the contradiction that appearance may offer against me. 
And how much I desire to say this word to you, you may 
know from my present step, which I take without regard 
to the customs of society, in order to express myself as 
unreservedly as the circumstances require, to a friend 
whom I do not wish to lose. 

,“I dare to suppose that the card which I sent you in 
Berlin, to indicate to you an asylum in any need, has 
brought you here ; and yet I had to be the last to meet 
you — a meeting that took place only by a freak of 
Carry’s, and against your own will, and which you made 
as brief as possible. Is it not true that it happened only 
because you found me married, without regard to the 
special person who is my husband ? and if I could now 
look into your mind, would I not meet the purpose of 
avoiding, by as speedy a departure as may be, any new 
meeting w T ith me? You have let me guess, almost with- 
out concealment, what is in your heart ; and so I utter 
courageously what I think I recognize of your feelings, 
because only in this way can a quiet, clear understanding 
exist between us. 

“We have twice been brought together under circum- 
stances that might well make us both forget the every-day 
world ; and I may tell you, that I have never been able 
to think of you without a warm appreciation of your 
character, as well as a hearty, friendly regard for you. 
Now, dear friend, we have come from your romantic 
Germany into our sober America, and we must accept 
the reality, as it offers itself. I have followed an una- 
voidable necessity, which has led me into my present 
position, in which, as I have already told, you, I have 
nothing to regret; will you, then, make the reality 
answerable, because it can not give you what perhaps a 
dream has sometime shown you ? And is it so little that 
we can have, if we only will ; a clear, sensible under- 
standing, and a friendly existence near one another, 
which, just from its calmness, can scarcely be disturbed? 

“ But I will not forestall your mood, wdiich showed itself 
to me only for a brief moment. You may go on peace- 
14 


158 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


fully in your former business, without any anxiety about 
meeting me again; only Carry’s mysterious invitation 
took me to my father’s house to-day : otherwise I should 
scarcely have entered it; but, if at any time another 
meeting does occur, give me your hand quietly, and think 
of our European adventure as that which alone it must 
remain : a reminiscence of a poetic time. 

“And now permit me one more remark, which I send out 
of a full heart to my friend. You told me that you had 
no talent for becoming a merchant, and you let me sus- 
pect the reasons that keep you in your present place. Let 
me know your plans or wishes, and the hindrances to 
them, with the same frankness that I have shown to you, 
in spite of all my hesitation ; perhaps it may be possible 
for me to procure one free way or another, to a new 
future ; and if you cannot feel kindly to Mrs. Graham, 
let me always be, for you, your sincere friend, 

“Jessy Winter.” 

Hugo had long finished the letter, but he still looked, 
pale and rigid, at the written characters. “ Lies, lies ! ” 
he murmured, at last ; “now that she has shut me out of 
paradise, she would like to persuade me that she never 
had anything more for me than a sunny place on a bar- 
ren heath — but to write that , if it had been the truth, 
would not have needed such haste.” He called up before 
him the whole scene of his meeting with her that day ; 
he examined it, as if it had been some indifferent event, 
from her terror when she recognized him, to the last trem- 
bling pressure of her hands and her parting look. “ She 
is afraid,” he said, slowly ; “ is afraid of the silent accusa- 
tion of her own feelings, and she wants to draw as a bar- 
rier between us, faith in the coldness of her heart ; she 
stops the confession of my passion and my grief, as the 
worst thing that can happen to her, and she says in clear, 
quiet words, that I have nothing more to acknowledge ; 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


159 


she does not shrink from encountering the past, but re- 
gards it as a mere poetic reminiscence ; she makes her 
position sure on all sides : but she will gladly build me a 
golden bridge, if I will only go away, and spare her any 
conflict. O, I will go away soon enough,” he continued, 
sitting down, “you shall not be disturbed, but I will have 
neither your friendship nor your help, Jessy. I have not 
your strong heart, that can control itself, and bear the 
full reality ; but I have some pride, which would let me 
die rather than receive your alms ! ” 

He laid his head on the table, covering his face with 
his hands. He had quite decided that he must leave 
Winter’s establishment, and the city, the next day. To 
say nothing of his own feelings, which would have 
doomed him here, to constant suffering, his honor de- 
manded a separation from Winter ; but, if he actually 
was to begin his American career as bar-keeper, he would 
at least do it in a place where there would be no eye for 
him to shun. He tried to picture to himself the parting 
with his employer, to whom he intended openly to impart 
his reasons for resigning ; but again and again fragments 
of Jessy’s letter sounded through his mind, leading away 
his thoughts ; and soon he was, almost unconsciously, 
meditating on single sentences; he tried to explain to 
himself the “unavoidable necessity” which had led to 
her marriage ; he recalled her pale, altered looks, which 
directly contradicted the superficial serenity of her letter ; 
and the bitterness which came over him at this show of 
equanimity, led him once more to a more vehement reso- 
lution to leave the house on the next day. 

A hand was at that instant laid upon his shoulder ; he 
looked up, almost terrified, and saw the face of old Hen- 
derson, who was gazing at him with strange sympathy. 


160 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


“ She wept bitterly when she was writing that, sir,” he 
said, pointing to the open letter; “only have courage, 
whatever she may have written. She herself does not 
know how things stand, nor that old Henderson, who has 
carried her in his arms, and helped her in many a little 
trouble, is near to release her from a great unhappiness. 
Only don’t be faint-hearted, sir ; everything will be as it 
should, and when it has gone far enough, you will learn 
how bravely the child has struggled.” He gave a look 
of mingled humor and emotion, which Hugo understood 
just as little as his words. 

“ I don’t know what you mean,” he said, surprised ; 
“ do you know anything in relation to this letter ? ” 

“ Only what Flora, her maid, just told me ; I have 
learned many things from her ! ” he answered quietly, 
drawing up a chair. “ Is ’nt it true, that you became 
acquainted with Mrs. Graham in Germany, and came 
here on account of the card that she sent you ? Is your 
name not Hugo Zedwitz? ” 

“And even if that is all so, what of it?” asked Hugo, 
who now heard with new attention this question, which 
had been asked him before. 

The old man nodded with a peculiar smile. “I have 
no objection to your failing to understand me, I can go 
on the more surely ! ” he answered. “ But you will see 
that I must hav£ some reason for taking it so quietly, 
that you, that have just come into the business, have 
heard all that passed between Mr. Winter and the Comp- 
troller ; and for pouring out my own heart to you. Now 
you shall know why it is ! ” He continued with quiet 
earnestness : “ It is a little more than a year, since Miss 
Jessy came back to Oakhill, from the home of the aunt 
with whom she lived, and whose eyes she closed. In 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


161 


common with a hundred other young men, Mr. Graham 
had his eyes upon her. But she was still the strange 
being that she had always been as a child, when she would 
often sit alone with some poor little girl, and share her 
sugar-plums with her, just because the well-dressed chil- 
dren would ’nt let her play with them — she troubled 
herself very little about the fine gentlemen, and about 
Mr. Graham least of all. But the Comptroller insinuated 
himself into her father’s favor, not by his wooing, but by 
various profitable pieces of business — and Mr. Winter has 
a passion for business that is ’nt open to everybody. I saw 
then how it would be ; saw that Graham drove every day 
to Oakhill ; but the man did ’lit please me with his flat- 
tering ways around the girl, and the affairs in which he 
involved the office pleased me still less. Then, at last, 
came a speculation with the city bonds — it was a busi- 
ness to tempt an angel, if he had a weak side for gain ! 
Here, on the place where we are sitting, the bargain was 
concluded ; the two men needed only a half word for 
an understanding, but old Henderson did ’nt need more. 
It was only necessary for us to close our eyes ; and if we 
did not undertake it, other hands were ready. But, sir, 
it was the first open dishonesty that had come under my 
eyes, whatever secret and remarkable affairs had gone 
through the office ; I knew, moreover, what price Graham 
had set for the profit that was to come from it, and Mr. 
Winter fell so easily into the golden snare that the Comp- 
troller laid for him, that unless I was willing to doubt my 
own employer, I must have hated the other, as the great 
Tempter, who would bring us all to destruction. Well, 
sir, then followed the European journey, and the people 
here thought Miss Jessy and the Comptroller would come 
14* L 


162 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


back married. But they made a mistake there ; a change 
had come over the maiden, and if her dear face had not 
been the same I might have supposed that she had grown 
ten years older ; but Mr. Graham seemed, from her man- 
ner to him, to have run entirely aground in his schemes. 
And at that very instant, it was suddenly said that they 
were to be married ; but Miss Jessy went about pale as a 
faded lily, and when old Henderson came to her, because 
she had sent for him to help her in her arrangements — 
she hid her face on his shoulder, as she had often done as 
a child, when she was sad ; and she wept as if her heart 
would break with grief. Then I knew that some diaboli- 
cal trick had been played, that had caught the girl, and 
I vowed that the poor child’s unhappiness should return on 
the one to whom it was due. I would gladly have made 
her rebel even then, for she can have a heart like a man, 
and accomplish what she undertakes ; but when the first 
outburst was over, she stood before me simply as a lady, 
told me that what she was to do was with her own free- 
will, and that I was to follow her orders without any 
questions. But from these very orders, which you shall 
know when the time comes, I gathered an idea of how it 
had gone with her free-will, and I should have understood 
as little about them, as about the circumstances which 
compelled her marriage, if I had not had some light from 
Flora, who grew up with her, and is a very sensible girl. 
Well, sir, before you came here, I knew the name that 
would have been the right one for the young mistress ; I 
knew that she might have been happy, if Mr. Winter had 
not been sold over to the tempter, and I knew, also, what 
I had to do, to make clean once more the office in which 
I had previously spent an honorable life ; to rescue the 
poor child from her bondage, and to catch in his own net 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


1G3 


the man who had forced himself upon her. You have 
heard yourself, that he already feels the cord around him, 
and does ’nt know who has helped him to it ; but you 
could not understand old Henderson, who knew, at your 
first entrance into the office, how affairs were with Miss 
Jessy, and who became your friend, as faithfully as he 
has fulfilled his vow against the Comptroller. Now I 
tell you once more : courage, sir ! everything will come 
as it should, whatever -s^emay have written in her unhap- 
piness. Only wait, and trust old Henderson ! ” 

Hugo had listened with increasing attention to this 
speech, whose meaning in many places he could not have 
grasped, if the remarks of the German inn-keeper had 
not opened it to him. Sometimes it seemed as if a new 
hope had risen within him ; then it appeared as if the 
old man was simply possessed of a fixed idea ; until at 
last the thought struck him, that Henderson, in his hatred 
to Graham, had given the information of treachery to the 
examining committee. But was Jessy therefore free, or 
was his position in Winter’s employment the more honor- 
able ? He stretched his hand out slowly to the old man, 
who grasped it heartily. “You mean well, Mr. Hender- 
son,” he said, “but you can help neither Jessy nor me. 
She has told me here, for the second time, that she has 
nothing to regret in the alliance she has made ; that she 
followed an inevitable necessity, and that she desires 
nothing of me but that I shall remain her friend. What 
will you change when even the reasons for her consent 
are unknown to you ? I have no claims, but those that 
she gave me, and if I think I cannot live near her in this 
calm relationship, I have full liberty to go. And I shall 
have to do that, moreover, on the same grounds that first 
made you Graham’s enemy, Mr. Henderson. Confidence 


164 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


for confidence ! the city suspects more of what has been 
done here, than Mr. Winter knows, and even if I unwit- 
tingly lent some aid to the discovery this morning, I cer- 
tainly shall not expose myself to the same danger again. 
I intend to take leave of Mr. Winter to-morrow, openly 
and honorably : and at the same time to bury the hopes, 
without which I should indeed never have come here. It 
must be, Mr. Henderson,” he added, as the old man 
moved ; “ I have failed here, doubly ; and Mrs. Graham’s 
liberty and peace demand that I should go, as well ; for 
I am not strong enough for a self-control, which the cir- 
cumstances render necessary.” 

“But I tell you, the office will be purified, sir, and 
whatever has been done here in which Mr. Winter’s hand 
and cunning have not worked, has been honest ; Hender- 
son knows it ! ” cried the old man, eagerly. “ Besides, I 
know what I know, and Miss Jessy will have her rights, 
if the Evil One himself has brought her marriage to pass. 
Courage, sir, and wait ! Henderson tells you, everything 
will come as it should, and that ought to be enough for a 
man that she has chosen ! ” 

Hugo pressed the speaker’s hand, with a faint smile. 
“ In many cases it needs more courage to go, than to re- 
sign oneself to things as they come,” he replied. “I will 
be quite clear in my own mind, and see you again to- 
morrow morning, before I carry out any of my resolu- 
tions.” 

Henderson looked at him anxiously, and shook his 
head. “ She wept bitterly when she was writing that let- 
ter,” he said, rising slowly ; “ do what you will be able to 
justify.” He went without another word to the door: 
and when it closed behind him, Hugo rested his head 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


165 


once more on his hand. What could all the wonderful 
hopes, and all the good will of the old man, do against 
unalterable facts? Was not Jessy married? Was not 
every day that he spent in Winter’s establishment a new 
peril to his honor? Away — while he yet had strength for 
it, and while his small means would suffice for a begin- 
ning in some entirely new region. 


VIII. 


IN GERMANY. 

T HE Counsellor Zedwitz was walking thoughtfully up 
and down, with his hands behind his back, in the 
little reception-room of his mother-in-law, while the old 
lady had let her knitting fall on her lap, and was looking 
out through the window into the twilight. Without, the 
first snow-flakes of the year were falling slowly from the 
gray November sky. 

“ Mangold has received a letter from his son, from New 
York,” she began, as if opening a new subject of conver- 
sation, and her son-in-law stood still, suddenly. 

“He said nothing to me about it,” he answered ab- 
ruptly. 

“I can well believe it; you have made him timid, good 
son.” 

“ I scarcely know whether Heinrich has been mentioned 
between us,” answered Zedwitz, raising his head, as if to 
cut short any further remarks of the kind. “I was just 
thinking of an arrangement that I intend to make, for 
which a confidential agent in New York would be a great 
convenience to me, and the address of young Mangold 
would come in very opportunely.” He began to walk up 
and down again, to escape the impressive looks of the old 
lady ; then he continued : “ In the next few weeks, our 
Messner will receive the title of government and school 

166 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


167 


committee man, and I have undertaken to arrange his 
affairs with Helen by that time. I know that the girl’s 
future will be safe in his hands, and that he will be an 
excellent son for us. But the use of Helen’s property 
will thereby be taken away from me, and I shall have to 
try to cover the deficiency in some other way. I have 
been obliged to make some debts on account of the chil- 
dren, and these must be paid, at least, before I shall feel 
at rest. Messner himself has been calling my attention 
to some American bonds that are universally sought after, 
which, instead of our usual four per cent., bring ten per 
cent, of interest. He intends to put his own little prop- 
erty into them, and as the security is equivalent to a state 
guaranty, I think I shall be justified in disposing more 
profitably, in this way, of the remainder of the children’s 
property, which is in my hands. But in spite of all se- 
curity, one is not familiar enough with American affairs, 
and the necessary legal steps, to make it entirely satisfac- 
tory, and so young Mangold could easily give me the need- 
ful explanations.” 

“ Y ou speak of an alliance between Helen and Messner 
as so near,” answered the grandmother, after a pause ; 
“ are you quite sure of your case ? I love the school- 
director as much as my own son ; but Helen is too dear 
to my heart for me to want to see her subjected to con- 
straint.” 

The counsellor stopped in his walk, and let a glance 
of serious determination rest on the old lady. “ The girl 
is still half a child, who must be guided, if her whole 
future is not to be left to chance, and she knows my will ; 
I thought we had a complete understanding in these 
things, mother,” he answered. “ I am aware of the half 
attachment between her and young Romer ; but she 


168 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


knows that I have grounds for being most thoroughly 
opposed to this inclination, and I am not afraid that her 
grandmother will help her to make any opposition to her 
father ! ” 

“ You may be quite content,” said the old lady, nod- 
ding slowly. “ But on the other hand, good son, I will 
never try to battle against a sincere affection, even if it 
goes against my dearest wishes. I have been punished 
for it once in my life,” she added, in a lower tone, “ and 
I cannot take this responsibility on my conscience again. 
But without regard to all that,” she hastily said, as if 
afraid of having spoken unadvisedly, “ what is the reason 
of your disinclination to Rbmer, whom, to be sure, I have 
always placed below our school-director, but to whom 
there can scarcely be any particular objection ?” 

Something like distant lightning appeared in the coun- 
sellor’s face during the first part of these words, and 
when the speaker had finished, a threatening storm was 
still on his brow. “ Where honor and conscience reign 
in a marriage founded on reason, mother, any one may 
undertake the responsibility,” he said, with severe energy, 
“ and if you have been relating a melancholy old story to 
my daughter, it will only be a blessing in her future life. 
I will give my daughter to no speculator, who often does 
not know whether he will be rich on the morrow, or will 
have lost the greater part of his possessions,” he went on 
more quietly, beginning his walk once more, “ and 
Romer’s business deals more or less in these branches. 
Nor will I have my daughter regarded according to what 
she brings ; and perhaps I have still other reasons for 
forbidding this attachment.” 

The grandmother’s face brightened into a smile full of 
satisfaction. She rose silently, when Zedwitz had turned 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


169 


his back toward her, went slowly up to him, and laid her 
hand on hi3 shoulder. “ We are alone, my son, so let us 
be honest,” she said, with a humorous air, which gave a 
peculiar charm to her fine old features. “ I will tell you 
what is going on in your soul, even if you will not 
acknowledge it. You thought yourself and your family 
name compromised by the event that drove Hugo from 
Berlin ; you found in it only the natural consequence of 
those modern views which he displeased you by embrac- 
ing, and you believed that in your severity toward him, 
you were only carrying out a necessary act of justice, as 
well for the honor of the family as for the evil-doer. Yet 
in the recesses of your heart still remained the love for 
your guilty son, though the world would never have 
suspected it. But now it appears, from good authority, 
that not only have no legal steps been taken against 
Hugo, but the wounded Russian has refused to designate 
any one as the doer of the deed, and has taken on him- 
self the whole blame of the unlucky accident ; — that 
Hugo’s superior has given the best evidence, and has 
lamented justly the thoughtless step that he took in flee- 
ing — permit me, dear son, to claim my right to speak 
out,” she said, interrupting an impatient movement of 
the counsellor. “ And so the affair would have been 
without any serious results if young Romer had not given 
the fugitive the means of going to America. Another, 
and a more correct reading is — if the fugitive had not 
been thrust out of his father’s house, to which he turned 
in childlike trust ; but this reading is somewhat uncom- 
fortable ; so one keeps to the first, and transfers to young 
Romer the reproaches that one may well heap upon him- 
self in secret. I am not yet done ! ” she exclaimed, at a 
new movement of her companion, without regarding his 
15 


170 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


knitted brows. “ So young Rorner must be called a 
speculator, though he never meddles in those American 
bonds through which my dear son wishes to increase his 
gains. You have spoken once before of this idea, and I 
took the opportunity of getting the opinion of a merchant 
about it. Understand me rightly — I by no means take 
part decidedly with the young man ; but I would like to 
have you, now that many a thing can be directed well for 
the peace of the family, be just to yourself, and to me, 
who have some right in the children, and deserve some 
degree of consideration ! ” 

She looked with a friendly glance into his gloomy eyes, 
and turning away, sat down again in the arm-chair by the 
window. Zedwitz appeared for some seconds to strive 
against his excitement. “You look at things only with 
your heart, mother,” he said, a cold placidity coming 
over his face. “ Hugo might have made some compensa- 
tion, if he had quietly gone back to Berlin, and given 
himself up to justice, as any man with a clear conscience 
would have done. He preferred, by his flight to America, 
to make any adjustment impossible, and to ruin his future 
life hopelessly. It is not only this last affair that has 
estranged me from the young man — it was everything 
that had gone before,” he added in a stronger tone ; 
“ even if his superior officer has thought to console me 
by a friendly opinion of him. And it is quite compre- 
hensible that I cannot be particularly favorable to a man 
who has helped him to put the crown on all his former 
proceedings — though the conclusions that I have drawn 
from Romer’s own character must bear part of the burden. 
I am done, as you know, with the son who has trodden 
under foot his whole future, which I had created for him 
by every conceivable sacrifice ; mother, I beg that his 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


171 


name may be no more mentioned between us!” A deep, 
serious look, that met the speaker, seemed to disquiet 
him ; but after a momentary pause he'went on with an 
expression of raillery : “ For the rest, dear mother, the 
apparent change in your views astonishes me. Were you 
not Messner’s most devoted friend, and the supporter of 
his interests ? and I do not recollect, in the least, noticing 
your having so much feeling for young Romer. Did you 
not, yourself, think Helen’s future most firmly secured by 
the character and views of the former ? ” 

In the fine face of the old lady arose a flush like the 
glow of sunset. “You compel me by your attack, to 
touch on things that you do not like to hear,” she an- 
swered, in some agitation ; “ I told you that I would not 
a second time oppose a sincere affection, even though it 
should frustrate my dearest wishes; and such a one has 
arisen between Helen and the young merchant ; first, ap- 
parently, through your own rigid repelling of all child- 
like confidence. I have pretty sure signs of it, though I 
have kept myself as far as possible from the affair. You 
will perhaps tell me that I ought to have guided the 
child’s judgment, before things went so far. But you 
yourself, my son, deprived me of her unreserved confi- 
dence, by the events concerning Hugo. You look sur- 
prised ; but there is nothing more natural. I have found 
out clearly, only within the last few weeks, what the girl 
said long ago ; that your decision against the son could 
scarcely have attained its actual severity, unless our good 
Messner, as an opponent of modern tendencies, had sus- 
tained your displeasure at Hugo’s views; I myself have 
been entirely under the influence of Messner’s agreeable 
sentiments, which make me to-day his most sincere friend ; 
but when I realized his activity in your proceedings 


172 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


against Hugo, who after all, ought perhaps to be accused 
of nothing more than a youthful, thoughtless idea of life ; 
when I found that the girl, in consequence of the scene 
here, became reserved towards me, whom she knew to be 
an open friend of the school-director : then I took coun- 
sel with myself, as every one should do, good son, who 
sees the best happiness, the harmony, and the contentment 
of his household fading away. I realized that we old 
people ourselves, when we were young, had our own ideas, 
and often enough acted in opposition to our parents ; that 
the most intelligent children are sometimes the most rebel- 
lious, and that the younger generation must be receptive of 
new views, even should they be occasionally wrong, if the 
world is not to stand still ; that intolerance and rigid ad- 
herence to our own will, are the worst means to free a child 
from its errors. And our children, good son, have a singu- 
lar mingling of the characteristics of father and mother ; 
you can bring them to anything by open love, while a 
severity, which seems just to you, hardens their hearts. 
If you are determined to carry out this constraint against 
Helen, and to take the responsibility on yourself, I can 
do nothing against it; I only wanted to give you the 
reasons for the change in my views, as you call it.” 

During this speech, there had appeared on the coun- 
sellor’s face by turns, impatience, repressed anger, and a 
look of bitter scorn. “ I do not know, dear mother,” he 
now said with a forced smile, “ who has furnished you 
with the materials for this statement of yours ; but I 
should like to say to you, that a man does not become as 
old as I, without making for himself certain principles 
as rules of conduct, which he does not alter so easily, to 
suit the views of others. And one of my principles is, 
that as long as a child lives under the protection, and 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


173 


upon the bounty of its father, it must be obedient to him, 
who knows it more thoroughly, and can counsel it better, 
than itself. But the child who refuses this natural duty 
in return for all the sacrifice and responsibility of its 
father, cuts itself off from him, and has no further claim to 
a child’s rights, for it has broken the holiest tie that Na- 
ture ever makes. You may communicate this firm prin- 
ciple of mine to Helen, who has very little capacity of 
judging for her own welfare ; but I am at all events con- 
vinced, that she will submit quietly to what is best, unless 
some undue influence is exerted. And now, dear mother, 
let us consider this subject finished ; Herr Komer shall 
hear from myself what is necessary.” 

He bowed and left the room. The grandmother leaned 
back, folded her hands, and looked out into the gloomy 
twilight ; but scarcely had the sound of the counsellor’s 
footsteps died away, when the door opened, and Marie 
came in noiselessly, and took a chair near the old lady. 
“Shall I ring for a light, grandmother ? ” she asked after 
a little while. 

The old lady looked up, as if wakened from a dream. 
“ Where is Helen ? “ she asked. 

“ She is still walking in the garden ; ” was the quiet 
answer. 

“ Now ? ” asked the other, looking attentively at the 
girl. Marie replied only by an entreating look. Then 
she said, half aloud, “ Oh, close your eyes, grandmother ; 
she has spoken so frankly to you ; Komer dares not come 
into the house, and what is she to do, if she will see him?” 

The old lady, with a sigh, shook her head. “ I cannot 
overlook it in this way ; I must speak with her. No one 
will compel her to a marriage to which she is opposed, 
but she must not bid defiance to her father’s will, almost 
15 * 


174 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


under his eyes. If her affection is genuine, she must be 
strong enough to be able to wait till a better day shall 
dawn, but nothing good can come in this way — she ought 
to know what her father is ! ” 

Suddenly Marie listened. “ There is Messner, speaking 
with father,” she said; “now send for Helen, grand- 
mother, or else it will seem as if it were on his account ,* 
I will be amiable, and entertain your friend ! ” 

“At least I will not expose her before a messenger, but 
I will take care that it is the last rendezvous of this 
kind !” she answered, rising as if with a hasty resolution. 
“ But how will the director enjoy your entertainment ? ” 
she added smiling. 

“ Why, grandmother ? ” said the girl ; “ I think that 
will depend on me! We used to understand one another 
very well — that was before he became so sweet, and de- 
voted himself to old ladies to win success. Sometimes, 
really, when I think what a fund of wisdom there is in 
the man, which for some foolish reason he hides, or sacri- 
fices to stupid, pretty sayings ; and how he gives up to 
every new opinion, as if he had none of his own, I can’t 
help hating him heartily, and letting him see very plainly, 
what I think. Meanwhile, I can control myself for a 
quarter of an hour, if it is necessary, and only abuse him 
mentally ! ” 

The old lady looked at the girl for a minute, as if she 
had given her a new idea ; but as steps became audible 
in the corridor, she said : “ Entertain him, then, till I 

come back ! ” and vanished through a side-door, which 
led to her bed-room. 

Marie turned towards the corridor, listening, when the 
door opened, and the school-director entered, followed by 
a servant with a burning lamp. He looked hastily 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


175 


around the room, and seemed to be unpleasantly affected 
by the sight of Marie. But she went towards him, saying : 
“We were just speaking of you, Herr Director! I said 
you would be satisfied with me for a short time. Grand- 
mother will soon be here again ! ” 

He looked surprised at the friendliness of her tone. 
“You know, Fraulein Marie, that your society has always 
made me happy ! ” he answered gravely, looking at her 
inquiringly, as if he could not entirely trust her innocent 
expression. 

“Always ? ” she said, smiling, and with a mischievous 
glance. “If you have patience for a short conversation 
with me, I shall be quite contented ! ” she added, drawing 
a chair up to the table ; Messner followed her example, 
but he looked somewhat uneasy, still. 

A quarter of an hour before, a young man had gone 
around the house, where the side-building joined the high 
garden-wall, forming one side of a narrow* blind lane, 
and had opened a little gate. The snow-flakes were fall- 
ing thickly in the gathering darkness, and had already 
covered with a white, soft mantle the leafless trees, the 
flower-beds, and the gravelled paths; the vine-covered 
path, which ran along the wall to the house, still showed 
luxuriant foliage, and the young man turned in here, as 
if wishing to conceal himself from sight. When, stealing 
behind the leafy wall, he reached the neighborhood of 
the house, where the vines grew upward to the nearest 
windows of the story above, he took up two little stones 
from the ground, and threw them against the panes. The 
sound was scarcely audible, but it was instantly answered 
by a gentle tap on the window. The young man stood 
listening, with his eyes glancing over the other windows, 
which gave light to the corridor of the upper story. Soon 


176 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


the door leading from the house to the garden was cau- 
tiously opened, and after a careful look around, a girlish 
figure stole down the nearest path to the vines. At this 
moment, the listener thought he saw a dark figure at one 
of the corridor windows; but the twilight and the fall- 
ing snow made him uncertain whether he had seen 
rightly, and in the next instant, both hands of the girl 
were stretched out to him. “ See, Fritz, whether I do not 
cling to you, in spite of all liinderances and danger ! ” she 
said softly and with fluttering breath. 

Young Romer had grasped Helen’s hands ardently. 
“Ah! I know it, you have become strong,” he answered, 
in a voice trembling with admiration and feeling ; “ and 
I — I can do so little. Is it true, what I have heard in 
the city,” he went on, excitedly, “that your marriage to 
Messner is to follow immediately upon his appointment 
as government-counsellor? Helen, now I cannot bear 
any more ! ” 

“ I know nothing of it, and the city is always better 
informed than ourselves,” she said, clasping his hand ; 
“ perhaps my father thinks he can compel me, if all goes 
according to his will ; but,” she continued, raising her 
head, with a look of energy sparkling in her eyes, “ I 
have told you, Fritz, that I will not be compelled. Per- 
haps I should not have had the strength to resist, if it 
had not been for the affair with Hugo, when I saw that 
my father had no feeling except for himself ; or if you 
had not shown me that I ought to be clear in my own 
mind — but be quiet, Fritz, he shall not compel me, and 
I have told my grandmother so, frankly and decidedly. 
What is to come, we will leave to God ; I know that you 
can do no more than be true to the word that we have 
given each other,” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


177 


They were standing together, their hands clasped, lost 
in a silence more eloquent than words, when a heavy 
^ tread sounded near them, and Homer started in alarm. 
He looked into the angrily flashing eye of the privy coun- 
sellor. 

“ I believe, Herr Romer, that your way has not hitherto 
led through my house,” he began, coldly and severely ; 
“but you spare me, by your presence, the trouble of a 
letter. Go to your room, Helen,” he said, turning to the 
girl, and speaking in a tone of command. 

Helen’s surprise had shown itself only in a single move- 
ment, after which she had looked steadily at the speaker. 
The clasped hands of the pair had involuntarily unclosed, 
but now she took more firmly in hers the hand of the 
young man, as if she would claim and protect him. 
“Father, I have invited Herr Romer here to speak to 
me,” she said, in a measured tone, though she could not 
quite prevent its trembling slightly ; “ and you will not 
send me away like a little child. I think I can defend 
what I have done.” 

Zedwitz looked at the girl, as if astonished at her man- 
ner, and then said sternly : “ Well then, you may hear 
what I have to say to this gentleman.” And turning to 
the young merchant with an icy mien, he went on : “I 
thought, Herr Romer, that I had already expressed to 
you, as clearly as the habits of a cultivated man would 
allow, that I do not desire you to visit at my house, and 
I think, moreover, that I have sufficiently indicated my 
reasons. For a man of the slightest feeling of honor, 
this would have been sufficient to make him avoid the 
neighborhood of my dwelling. But you seem to be of 
another opinion, and so you compel me to tell you, that I 
will treat any similar visit for the infatuation of a young 
M 


178 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


girl, who as yet has no judgment as to what will affect 
her future, just as I should treat any other forcible en- 
trance into my house.” 

Rbmer had grown deathly pale ; an answer was trem- 
bling on his lips, and seeming only to await the end of 
this speech ; but Helen pressed his hand to pacify him, 
and stepped forward, as if defending him against every 
hard word. 

“And what then, father, when you have gone so far?” 
she said, quietly, as soon as Zedwitz had finished. “You 
yourself have compelled me to see him outside of the 
house ; now you will drive me the further, the harder you 
are, for we have given our word to one another, not to let 
ourselves be separated. You repulsed my mother until 
God released her ; you turned Hugo away when he had 
done nothing wrong ; soon you will cast me out also : why 
have you only your hard will, father,” and it sounded as 
if she was pressing back her tears, “ and not even a little 
portion of love for us, who would have loved you so 
dearly, if we had dared ? ” 

It was a strange, gloomy look that had come into the 
counsellor’s face during the last words. He laid his left 
hand on his daughter’s arm, so heavily that she shrank 
from his touch ; and with the right he pointed to the gar- 
den gate. “ Go, sir ! ” he cried, “ that I may not forget 
myself ; then I will deal with this girl ! ” But Rbmer, as 
if forgetting himself in his sudden anxiety, only came 
nearer to him. 

“ I cannot go, Herr Counsellor,” he answered ; “ do with 
me according to your pleasure, but let Helen go free ; I 
cannot leave her so ! ” 

The next movement of the old man was stopped by a 
band that was laid suddenly on his arm. The grand- 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


179 


mother was standing near the group. “ Let me arrange 
this, good son, if you do not wish to have it the town- 
talk,” she said, resolutely, putting her arm around the 
girl, who had thrown herself on her breast in a burst of 
weeping. “ You, Herr Romer, promise on your word as 
a man of honor, that you will never again, under any 
circumstances, meet Helen secretly ; and I will promise 
you that she shall be forced into no alliance to which she 
is opposed.” 

She held her small, delicate hand out to the young 
man, and he grasped it, and pressed it to his lips with 
sudden emotion. “ I promise ! ” he said, in a subdued 
voice. 

“Now leave us, Herr Romer — and you, child, go to 
your room.” 

The girl raised herself from the speaker’s breast, and 
took the hand of the young man. “ Farewell, Fritz,” 
she cried; “whatever may come, our word is given!” 
She turned resolutely away, and went quickly to the 
house, without looking back. Romer bowed to the others 
in troubled silence, and went to the gate, which soon 
closed behind him. 

Zedwitz had let the brief scene pass, without a motion ; 
and he did not move, even when the old lady now turned 
towards him. “ I have promised that the child shall be 
forced into no marriage,” said she, mildly. “You will 
not bring my word to shame, my son.” 

“I think I may ordain my own conduct,” he answered, 
in a tone of suppressed excitement ; “it is to be hoped 
that the momentary regard which I paid to your appear- 
ance here, has laid me under no obligations.” 

“ Then I tell you,” she answered, “ that with your 
own hand you are breaking from your life-tree branch 


180 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


after branch, with all their living bloom, which God 
gave you to bless you ; that you will stand in your lone- 
liness, a cold, defenceless stem, without a claim to sym- 
pathy. For God in His wisdom has given parental love 
control over parental power ; and he who has no heart 
for his own child, from him every heart shall turn as 
from an unjust tyrant ” 

Her words were interrupted by a hasty step of the 
counsellor, which brought him close to her. “ And who 
told you,” he said, slowly, and with a painful oppression, 
“ that love for my children is not stronger and mightier 
in me than in any feeble woman’s heart, that would put 
a sharp knife into a child’s hand, only because he wants 
it?” 

They stood for an instant, silently, face to face. “ Then 
may God raise this love again from its grave, and bring 
it to the light, before it is too late,” she said, solemnly ; 
and with a drooping head she went slowly to the house. 

Zedwitz looked after her with knitted brows ; then he 
walked with his customary firm step to the gate in the 
wall, and shot the bolt. 

During this whole scene an extraordinary conversation 
had been taking place in the grandmother’s reception- 
room. 

At Marie’s invitation,* Messner had sat down, but he 
could not conceal that his soul was on the watch, as if he 
was not quite certain of the peace mirrored in the girl’s 
quiet smile. 

“ Could you answer me a question of conscience confi- 
dentially, Herr Director ? ” asked Marie, taking up some 
work, while a mischievous look came over her face. 

“ A question of conscience — and confidentially ? ” an- 
swered Messner, making a face of comical timidity. 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


181 


“ There are two difficult words at once. Will you first 
tell me, Fraulein, how I am to acquire this wished-for 
confidence ? ” 

“ Why, would this word be uttered between us for the 
first time ? ” she answered, looking up from her work, and 
before the steady gaze of her clear eyes his face grew 
flushed. 

“ And if it was formerly mentioned,” he said, evidently 
uncertain how to understand her behavior towards him, 
“ have not all the conditions needful for it been de- 
stroyed?” 

She looked at him earnestly. “You are right, and I 
have often regretted it,” she replied ; “ yet I should like 
to ask you my question.” 

“ Speak to me openly, Fraulein Marie, and I will be- 
lieve you,” he answered, after a short pause ; “ do you 
intend to talk earnestly, or to consider me, as usual, a 
convenient subject for your satire?” 

She shook her head, smilingly. “You have never 
been a subject for my satire,” she replied, “ except, per- 
haps, occasional words and actions of yours, of which I 
could judge in a measure, how little they were rooted in 
your real being — or am I to assume, Herr Messner,” she 
continued, suddenly becoming serious, “that jour former 
ways of acting were the unreal ones?” 

He moved uneasily under her gaze. “You are begin- 
ning your peculiar riddles again,” he said ; “might we 
ask for your question now ? ” 

“ Well, Herr Director, here it is,” she answered, 
quickly ; “ now show me whether I am to look for truth 
from you ! Do you really love my sister, that you per- 
sist in an alliance with her, in spite Qf all the circum- 
stances, which you must know? Helen is still almost a 
16 


182 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


child in many things, and can scarcely satisfy you intel- 
lectually ; besides, you know that she is bound by another 
attachment, and that if our father should forcibly make 
her yield to your wishes, she could bring you nothing but 
shattered hopes, and an unfriendly heart !” 

At the first words of the question, Messner had raised 
his head as if with a sudden, painful emotion, and he 
seemed about to interrupt the speaker, but she stopped 
him with a look. 

“ Let me say a few more words, and then you may 
speak as unreservedly as I have done,” she said. “ You 
are seeking a wife, through whose family-relations you 
may receive the needful support in your career ; you have 
seen that my father’s influence has already been active 
in your behalf, and so you would knit your interests to 
his. But why destroy the peace of a young girl, and 
prepare dissensions for your domestic life, which would 
overbalance every outward advantage? Are there no 
other persons who are really attached to you, and who 
would help you in those aims which you wish to advance 
by this marriage ? ” 

The look that rested on Messner was very impressive. 
He had been listening, with the air of submitting to the 
inevitable. But at the last words he looked up in won- 
der, and when he met Marie’s eyes, a conjecture darted 
into his mind, that brought the color to his cheeks. 
“ And would you name a person, who is so truly attached 
to me, that she would take Helen’s place ? ” he asked 
slowly, his gaze resting intently on her face ; but the ex- 
pression of his eyes, and the significance with which he 
asked the question, seemed to surprise the girl. 

“I mean my grandmother,” she said, “she would surely 
be active for your interests in any possible way.” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


183 


“ Y our grandmother ! ” he echoed, quite stunned ; then 
his eyes sparkled with anger, and he rose hastily. “ I 
knew well enough, that everything would be turned into 
mockery ! ” 

Marie seemed, for a moment, amazed at the effect of 
her words ; then, as if coming to a comprehension, she 
broke into a ringing laugh. “ Wait, Herr Director ! ” 
she cried, rising in her turn, “ this is a misunderstanding ; 
truly, I did not wish to recommend my grandmother to 
you as a wife — and,” she continued, involuntarily laying 
her hand on his arm, to keep him from going, “ I beg 
you to believe my honest word, that I have not intended 
to affront you in any way.” 

He turned half toward her. “You have not wished to 
affront me,” he said gloomily ; “ who w^as it, then, who 
systematically tried to banish me from her father’s house — 
who had for every one of my words a sting, and for each 
of my actions a railing comment? Indeed” — he con- 
tinued, with excitement, turning fully toward her, “there 
was a time, Fraulein, when the word confidence did exist 
between us ; when I thought I lived in your mind ; when 
thoughts were formed within me that seemed to be 
reflected in you — what has given you the right, 'now, to 
make a man, who has no weapon against a woman, the 
sport of your wit and a sacrifice to your tongue ; to take 
the position of an enemy toward me, who never injured 
you ? ” 

Marie’s hand had long before left Messner’s arm ; her 
face was pale, but she looked up resolutely. “ There was 
a time, when the word confidence existed between us ! ” 
she repeated slowly, her glance fixed firmly on his face. 
“ Then, I saw a man at my side, who walked with me as 
guide and teacher through the fields of German litera- 


184 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


ture, who led me into the temple of high thoughts, and 
opened to me a view of mysterious and profound truths ; 
in whose soul I read nothing but enthusiasm for everything 
great and noble, who carried me away with his opinions 
until I felt myself little compared with him, and thought 
it happiness to possess him as a trusting friend, who con- 
fided to me his sorrows. But then I saw the same man 
suddenly change, deny his own ideals, hide his own light, 
with false humility follow the footsteps of others, and 
join himself, at the cost of his better feelings, to the 
weaknesses of those who could influence his outward 
destiny ; I saw the man of strong convictions lower him- 
self to be the maker of pretty speeches, and saw the 
friendship and respect that I had often shown him, 
changed into self-scorn, so that at last I was compelled to 
hate — on account of the betrayal of my best feelings, to 
hate — where I had formerly admired. There you have the 
wrong that you have done me, the cause that has given 
me a right to my conduct, and now I need not say whose 
fault has destroyed all the conditions of our early confi- 
dence. Y ou asked me ; I have answered ; now do what 
you may hereafter be able to justify ! ” 

She ‘was turning away, but, with an agitated air, he 
seized her hand. “Stop, Marie,” he said, “we cannot 
end here, for however you may think yourself in the right, 
you have done me more serious wrong, than you, in your 
sphere, can understand. Can you appreciate the position 
of a man, who feels in himself the power to take his place 
among the very first, but, with all his knowledge and 
talents, with all the hopes given him by his diligence and 
youthful success, is banished to a low place which allows 
him no room for his mental power, simply because he 
lacks one thing — a friend influential enough to help 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


185 


him ? — who sees himself surpassed by men, whom he 
must despise for their ignorance, and who vainly racks 
his brain for a way to make his value known? And now 
think of this man, as brought by a happy accident into 
a circle of society that opens before him an outlook into 
the region of his dreams, but shows him, at the same time, 
that here, where there are powerful levers for his fortune, 
knowledge and inner worth are little, but favor and out- 
ward accidents are all ; imagine, that an amiable girl is 
at his side, whose friend and teacher he becomes, in whom 
he finds all that he needs, and whom he well might win, 
if his fate had not fixed him so far below her. And then 
suppose that such tempting thoughts as these come to him : 
You can reach what you want, you have the gifts to make 
your way where the gates are now standing open, you 
need only be what people desire ! And is it a sin, to sub- 
ordinate his own nature to others, to hide his own supe- 
riority, if this is the only means of gaining free room for 
the employment of his powers, if every other road to his 
inner and his outer success is closed ? Many a man may 
become a hypocrite in pursuing his career, as things are 
arranged now, but when have I ever been one ? I have 
complied with the whims of the people I have met in 
society ; I have said agreeable things to them ; I have 
been silent when my opinions were offended, but nothing 
could be done ; I have often disavowed myself, but when 
have I ever been actually untrue to my convictions ? I 
have clung to the old ladies, my most faithful defenders, 
because among all the young ones there was but one 
point of attraction for me, and that soon changed to a 
sting and torment, turning into bitterness all the feelings 
that had before been my joy, and making me indifferent 
to the misapprehension which attributed to your sister 
16 * 


186 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


Helen my visits to your house. If I had to enter into 
an alliance without any particular attachment, the one 
most welcome to me would be that with a member of 
your family, to which all my gratitude was due ! — I 
need only say to you, further, that I am not unworthy 
of the future which I have won through self-denial, that 
I shall soon be able to raise my head freely, and that you 
yourself shall respect me. But you may pacify your 
sister with the assurance that I will not be the cause of 
her unhappiness ! ” 

During his speech, the color had come and gone in the 
girl’s face, and an expression of varying feelings was on 
her brow ; at last there came upon her features something 
like the dawning of happiness. 

“And Hugo?” she asked, looking doubtful still; “were 
you not his enemy on some account unknown to me ? did 
you not bring our father’s displeasure against him, to 
its present sharpness, by your ardent agreement with his 
views ? ” 

He looked up hastily, as if failing to understand her 
words ; then a deep shade passed over his face. “ So it 
has come to such a judgment as this ! ” he said sadly. 
“Your father, Fraulein Marie, is not the man to let him- 
self be influenced by the views of a proteg£, such as I 
was; I did not know your brother before his last ap- 
pearance here ; if I had formed an idea derogatory to 
him, it was through the complaints of your father, to 
whom I could not refuse my condolence. For myself, I 
despise nothing more than the ways of judging of our 
young people, who substitute crude materialism for a*i 
elevated thought, and would make enjoyment the end 
of their being ; and I may, indeed, have expressed my 
convictions ! ” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


187 


At this moment the counsellor’s heavy tread was heard 
in the corridor, and Marie hastily stretched her hand to 
the school-director, with a brighter look. “ We will talk 
together again,” she said, turning to the work-table. 
Messner had felt the half timid pressure of her hand, and 
he stood looking at her for an instant as if struck by a 
sudden thought, when the opening of the door made him 
turn towards it. 

“Ah ! my excellent, dear friend ! ” said the counsellor 
as he entered, evidently delighted at the sight of his 
guest ; “ I was just thinking of you ! ” He went to the 
sofa and sat down, while Messner took his previous posi- 
tion. “ My mother is not yet here, but she will not stay 
away long ; Helen is not well, and she is looking after 
her ! ” he continued. “ Have you heard anything of our 
common project as to the American bonds ?” 

“I have made all the arrangements, and I came espe- 
cially to give you the necessary information,” answered 
Messner. “There is only a small number of the bonds 
here in the market, and I was fortunate in getting in ad- 
vance of others. You have two months’ time to arrange 
for the payment ; your signature suffices until then, and 
I thought it was the best way to settle everything imme- 
diately according to your convenience. I have with me 
the forms for concluding the business, so that you can 
have the papers in your possession to-morrow morning.” 

Zedwitz looked at the speaker for some time, as if fol- 
lowing a train of thought. “You are prompt, dear 
friend, and you will not find me more indolent ! ” he 
said. “ This business affair depends, as you know, on your 
entrance into our family ; both have met with the disap- 
probation of one and the same opponent, whom our good 
mother seems to favor. No matter ! ” he continued, at 


188 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


an inquiring look of the school director ; “ I have al- 
ways carried out what my reason showed me to be right, 
and so you may regard my signature, which settles the 
money affair, as the pledge of our near relationship. If 
I have interrupted you in a discussion with Marie, do not 
let me disturb you,” he added, rising; “I will expect you 
in my cabinet ! ” Nodding to the two young people, he 
left the room. 

“Had you anything else to say to me?” said Messner, 
turning half fearfully to his companion. 

“ W ell, Herr Director,” she answered, approaching 
him, “I should like to know whether you have the 
courage to tell my father frankly, that you give up your 
claims to my sister, and leave her to her own inclinations. 
I have heard words from you, now I should gladly see a 
deed ! ” 

“ And then, Marie ? ” 

“ Then ? ” she repeated, her glance falling for a moment. 
“Let us first await whatever may develop itself — possibly 
you will not come to a * then/ My father likes to carry 
through what he begins ; and you are not government- 
counsellor, Herr Messner ! ” 

“ Marie, still this tone always ? ” 

“ Father is waiting for you — good night, Herr Direc- 
tor ! ” She bowed and vanished through the side-door. 
Messner stood for an instant with his hand over his eyes, 
and then slowly followed the counsellor. 


IX. 


RESOLUTIONS. 

T HREE weeks had passed since the last conversation 
between Hugo and old Henderson ; after the brief 
autumn, the winter had already given tokens of ap- 
proach — but the young man had not left his place. If 
he had wanted to say exactly what held him to the posi- 
tion, notwithstanding his unaltered views, he could 
scarcely have done so. Little events and influences had 
formed themselves into a chain, which constantly pre- 
vented his taking the first decided step toward departure ; 
the necessity for it had not for a moment left his mind, 
but, by later circumstances, had become even clearer to 
him, and yet three weeks had gone, he scarcely knew 
how, without the accomplishment of anything. 

After an almost sleepless night, in which he had repre- 
sented to himself his taking leave of Winter, and com- 
posed an answer to Jessy, an expression of all his thoughts 
and feelings — he was waiting in the office, when his em- 
ployer came in, hastily, and in evident distraction. “ It 
is possible, Mr. Zedwitz, that for some days we may see 
each other only very briefly, or not at all,” he remarked ; 
“ in the mornings, you can work with Henderson, and 
gain some insight into our commission and forwarding 
trade ; but in the afternoons, if the weather should pre- 
vent your expeditions to the farm, make yourself ac- 

189 


190 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


quainted with the book-keeper, so as to get a knowledge 
of our ways. I should like you to come on far enough 
to be able to represent me here in case of need — but 
more of that some other time ; I am extremely pressed 
to-day ! ” And before Hugo could remember the pre- 
liminary words of what was lying on his heart, Winter 
had left the office. But Henderson took him in charge 
with peculiar heartiness, began to explain to him the 
customs of American commission-business, opened the 
books before him, and, as if led by some particular object, 
went through some important cases with him. 

“ I think there is nothing dishonorable in these affairs, 
even if every one has not the craft to make as much by 
them as Mr. Winter,” he said ; “ and we will stop at this 
kind of business, after the storm which is coming ; only 
wait quietly, sir ! ” 

And Hugo had to wait, undoubtedly, for a week went 
by in which he had only a glimpse of his employer here 
and there, and then so much occupied, that it would have 
required the greatest resolution to approach him in the 
affairs that seemed to absorb him. Hugo felt that a quiet 
quarter of an hour, at least, would be necessary when he 
should attempt to justify his step. Besides, Henderson 
appeared to think so little about the possible departure 
of the young man ; he undertook so ardently his practical 
instruction, acting as interpreter between him and the 
book-keeper, whose deafness made an understanding diffi- 
cult ; and he clung with such good-humored, trusting 
kindness to his scholar, as he regarded Hugo, that the 
latter thought uneasily of the moment in which the old 
man should learn of his unchanging resolution. He was 
newly urged to its execution by a singular relation which 
was beginning to form between himself and Carry. The 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


191 


daily ride to the farm was an obligation that he had un- 
dertaken, and therefore he had omitted it only when the 
autumnal storms were too heavy. But from the day 
which had brought about his meeting with Jessy, Carry’s 
manner had undergone a change. Her mischievous ways 
and frankness had subsided into a kind of reserve — 
sometimes into a strange tenderness ; her whole behavior 
had taken something of girlish shyness, through which 
the old, daring spirit occasionally broke, only to do pen- 
ance afterwards in a vivid blush ; so that, at first, Hugo 
had noticed these changes with surprise, but then had 
not been able, himself, to keep up the easy tone of his 
previous visits. His lessons with the boy had been en- 
tirely given up, the physician having prohibited all men- 
tal exertion, and so the German was left for hours alone 
with the maiden, who indeed received quietly his instruc- 
tions on the piano, but evidently regarded them as only 
a secondary thing, and often, in the middle of a piece, 
would break off, to ask some sudden question about the 
details of German life, or to make him speak of some 
place to which Winter had travelled with his elder 
daughter. Then she would lean back, and look at him 
immovably, as if observing his expression of countenance, 
rather than listening to his words. And when Hugo, 
unable to avoid some confusion before the steady gaze of 
her beautiful eyes, asked her why she cared for all these 
recitals, she would rise, blushing, as if from a dream, and 
say in an embarrassment that kept her from weighing 
her words : “ O, I should so much rather listen to you 
than to my stupid playing!” Hugo knew well enough, 
on such occasions, how to restore things to their right re- 
lations ; but on his way home he had asked himself more 
than once, whether he could be deceiving himself as to 


192 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


the feelings of this charming girl, who could not exercise 
her full power of attraction upon him, and whither a 
continuance of these meetings might lead, for her. He 
found still further material for thought, when, after 
omitting his visits for two days, on his arrival at the 
farm, he met his employer just ready to set out, who said 
to him with a peculiar smile : “ Carry is quite unhappy 
over your absence ! You work well in my business, as I 
hear ; but you need not feel obliged to be so diligent here 
at home ; it is not impossible that I shall ask you some 
day to represent me here for a time, as well as at the 
office !” And with a humorous nod of the head, as if he 
thought he had said enough, he drove off. Hugo was 
almost afraid to fathom his words ; but when he thought 
that the man, to whom he was not unknown before his 
arrival, through his adventure with Jessy, might have 
made a plan of educating him into a grateful, silent tool 
for his affairs, and finally fettering him to himself, as so 
many remarks had already indicated — he was seized 
with anxiety at this idea of the possible meaning of Win- 
ter’s words, and he made up his mind again to put a 
speedy end to these relations, even at the risk of having 
to do it without an open justification. 

Meanwhile, in the second week, the examination agi- 
tated against the financial officers of the city, had become 
the common topic of conversation ; in all the drinking- 
places and private companies, in meetings of the citizens, 
and where two or three were standing together in the 
street, there was nothing talked of but the accusations ; 
hot debates for and against took place everywhere, the 
papers began to take up the affair according to party 
feeling, and an intense curiosity as to the final issue of 
the movement, in which Hugo, against his 'will, began to 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


193 


take an active part, had quite overpowered him ; it did 
not need Henderson’s secretly-expressed satisfaction, and 
his “ Only wait, everything will come out as it should !” 
nor Winter’s evident uneasiness, to keep him in his place 
for the time. Soon Graham’s name seemed to be the 
principal point, around which the public feeling turned ; 
but the more the Comptroller was condemned on one 
side, the more strongly another party upheld him, and 
Winter seemed to have placed himself again close by the 
side of his son-in-law. Hugo met them together at the 
farm on one occasion, so that be could not doubt a new 
understanding between the two. At this revival of mu- 
tual confidence, Henderson knitted his brows and growled, 
“ That is the result ! He would gladly push him as far 
away as he could, and be an honest man, but he is afraid 
of him, and has to be cunning — well, the harder the 
pressure, the more useful the lesson; but no company 
will help the Comptroller !” Hugo thought more than 
ever of Jessy ; of the state of mind in which she must be 
living during this crisis, and the condition to which she 
would be brought in case of Graham’s actual conviction. 
He felt, that on her account he could not go, without a 
decided reason. 

So three -weeks had passed. Of the joiner, Hugo had 
not heard a word during the whole time, and he was 
angry with him. Formerly, when Mangold needed him, 
he thought, he had been able to do nothing without 
his acfvice ; now he had joined the enemies of the 
man with whom he knew his friend to be in business, 
without giving the latter any news of himself, and Hugo 
could so little reconcile this conduct of his school friend 
with his former dependence, that he intended, in case of 
17 N 


194 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


a possible meeting* to treat the ingrate as coldly as he 
deserved. 

It was a cold but clear December day, and Hugo was 
going back to his place of business after dinner. Among 
the guests at the table, a report had been spread, that a 
committee of citizens had been sent to the State govern- 
ment with an accusation against the city officials, of 
treachery, and embezzlement of the public money ; that 
the charge was supported by many proofs, but that it 
could not be sustained without the arrest of the culprit ; 
that Graham laughed at the steps which had been taken 
and called them an insane measure of his political oppo- 
nents, who would yet ruin the city credit with their 
clamor ; and that he had issued invitations for a great 
fete at his house the next evening. From other sides, it 
had been added, that in any case the city bonds would 
suffer considerable depreciation, the accusing party hav- 
ing urged that not a cent of interest should be paid, until 
the amount of the illegally issued paper had been made 
up. Meanwhile the business houses were in doubt as 
to whether they should oppose their power to the threat- 
ening calamity. 

The German’s mind was so full of what he had heard, 
that it quite escaped him that the joiner was standing 
near his place of business, and trying in vain to attract 
his attention ; only when he seized his arm, saying : “ Will 
you not see me, Hugo ? ” did he come out of his abstrac- 
tion. 

“ If it w r ere so, you deserve scarcely anything else,” he 
answered, slowly, but Mangold looked at him with such 
horror, that his displeasure vanished. “ It is three weeks, 
Heinrich, since we arrived here, and I have seen nothing 
of you, notwithstanding my search for you.” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


195 


“ What, in the name of wonder, ought I to have done? ” 
said the joiner. “ Five times have I wandered around 
here in the evening, in the hope of meeting you, until at 
last I despaired. I had so many things to tell you, and 
in the day-time I could n’t leave my work — but it had 
to be to-day, even if I had been forced to go into the fox’s 
kennel, where you stay. He ’s a fine fellow, this Mr. 
Winter,” he said, laughing ; “ Marquart himself says they 
will be able to prove nothing against him, unless they 
find extraordinary testimony ; it is just as well for you to 
remain quietly in his employment, if yon, with your other 
hopes — no, I’ll be silent, I only wanted to say that I 
know exactly how the case stands.” 

u And what is it that brings you here so particularly 
to-day?” asked Hugo, as if he had not heard the last 
words. 

“ True, I nearly forgot the chief subject. I have a let- 
ter from the old gentleman, Hugo, that was sent to me 
from New York, but it has more to do with you, than 
with me. Can’t we go in somewhere, to take an undis- 
turbed view of the case?” 

Hugo had hastily raised his head. “ That concerns 
me ? ” he asked. “ Let us go to my room, where we shall 
be entirely alone ! ” he added, eagerly, taking with visible 
excitement the other’s arm, and leading him in the direc- 
tion indicated. 

On the stairs of the house, Henderson came toward 
them, stopped at the sight of them, and held out his hand 
to Mangold with a good-humored look ; but the latter 
made a grimace, that seemed to be a sufficient answer for 
the old man, who went by, with a humorous glance. 

“ Do you know the man ? ” asked Hugo, surprised at 
the unexpected by-play. 


196 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


“ To be sure ! he is the finest old fellow in the world,” 
laughed Mangold ; “and the only trouble between us, 
is, that he does n’t know any German, and I don’t un- 
derstand English ; so we have to get along as w r ell as we 
can.” 

“ But where did you make this intimate acquaintance- 
ship ? ” asked Hugo, opening his room-door. 

“Where? at Graham’s; you know, of course — no, 
positively, you know nothing yet,” the speaker interrupted 
himself, “ and that was the great reason for my wanting 
to meet you. You have often said rightly, Hugo, I am 
an ass. But the chief point can be told soon enough. 
Do you remember the Thuringian girl that we met on the 
first evening in the American Hotel? Well! a week 
after, she came as cook to Graham’s, and I — now, it may 
not look well for a member of the examination party to 
sneak secretly into the comptroller’s house ; but what will 
love not do ? Well, so it was there that I met old Hen- 
derson, who seems to be on very confidential terms with 
the chamber-maid. Besides, there were wonderful things 
that I found out there — ” 

“ Don’t let us forget the letter,” interrupted Hugo, who 
had thrown oft’ his hat, and was listening very abstract- 
edly ; “sit down and light a cigar.” 

“True, the letter; but then remind me of what I wanted 
to say ; it concerns your princess.” 

“ Mrs. Graham ? ” 

“Just so — but first read f” 

Hugo unfolded the paper that was given to him, while 
the joiner took a cigar, and with a wondering look around 
the room, sank down on the sofa. The writing was as 
follows : 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


197 


“ Dear Son Heinrich : — If you are well, and 
getting on comfortably in the new country, I shall be 
very glad; you have your free will, so I will only 
say as to your going away, that I rejoiced over your 
letter, which at least showed me that you think of 
your old father. I should not have had much to tell 
you, and so should not have written immediately, if 
the Herr counsellor did not wish you to get him in- 
formation about a subject that is very important to 
him. Namely, some time ago some American bonds 
were brought here, that are said to be very good — I 
myself understand nothing about it — and the Herr 
counsellor has bought several thousand dollars’ worth of 
them. Now you are to go to an honest lawyer there, and 
find out whether one is to count on punctual payment of 
the interest on such paper, or what is the quickest thing 
to do, if this should ever fail. In the enclosed note, 
the Herr counsellor has given an exact description of the 
bonds. 

“ Now you will not take it ill, dear Heinrich, if I think 
there could be better persons than you, for such a com- 
mission ; I have thought of the Herr referendary, of 
whom, however, no one dares to speak here in the house ; 
I think it would be best for you to give the whole affair 
over to him. I am sure it would be the greatest sin to 
doubt his love for his father. So write me whatever he 
says about the papers.” 

Hugo read no further, but, with a sudden presentiment 
took out the enclosed page. His father’s hand-writing 
met his view, and there came vividly into his heart all 
his love for the rigid man, together with the bitterness 
with which he had left his home ; in the next moment 
he had run over the contents, and with a feeling border- 
ing on terror, he saw his half-formed suspicions confirmed 
— it was the city bonds brought into the market by 
Winter, and sold during his European journey, in which, 
the counsellor had invested his money. The young man 
17 * 


193 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


looked through the list of numbers, which, with his ac- 
customed accuracy, the old counsellor had added — and 
the proofs of the way in which the city had been be- 
trayed by its officials, the same way that Marquart, the 
German inn-keeper, had indicated, lay before him. He 
saw single numbers, which he knew he had entered into 
the copying-book only three weeks before, while he had 
assisted in sending the corresponding bonds to Europe ; 
of others he was not quite so sure ; but a solitary case 
would have sufficed for his conviction. His first thought 
was the danger into which his father would be thrown by 
the necessary depreciation of the paper, consequent on the 
pending inquiry. His second told him that after this dis- 
covery, it needed only the simple assurance of how far 
Winter had been involved in selling the earlier bonds, to 
ruin him and Graham by one and the same stroke. His 
third called to his attention the necessity of using the 
affair against Winter, s6 as to compel him to protect his 
father from the threatening loss ; but of course his next 
step in the office must be his last, unless he wanted to be 
a wilful accomplice of Winter. Strictly speaking, he 
ought to tell the committee of examination, his present 
discovery ; but he would not become an informer, and 
least of all, an informer against Jessy’s father. 

Involuntarily, he had begun to walk rapidly up and 
down the room, while the joiner looked at him in silence. 
It would be lost trouble to look for Winter that after- 
noon, and what was needful to be done, must be post- 
poned until his first visit to the office on the next morning — 
but then there would be neither a hinderance, nor a fur- 
ther delay for Hugo’s actions, he knew a word now, that 
would bring the man quietly to a stand. He -would use 
the afternoon, to say to Carry a friendly farew T ell — if 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


199 


Winter should thereby learn his resolution prematurely, 
it would need the less preamble in the morning. Into 
the midst of these ideas came the thought of Jessy, and 
he could not escape the bitter pain that overcame him in 
thinking of leaving her to see her no more, and of the 
end of his unhappy passion. It was almost a consolation, 
that he should leave the city sustained only by his own 
strength, and without having made use of her offer of 
“ friendship ” ; even though he did not know, to what place 
under heaven he was to turn. 

Then came suddenly to the young man’s remembrance, 
Mangold’s last words ; he stood still, and turned slowly 
towards him. “You were going to say something in rela- 
tion to Mrs. Graham, Heinrich,” he asked. 

“First be done with your reflections on the letter — 
there are such wonderful things in your face, that all my 
ideas have departed.” 

“So wonderful, Heinrich, that I cannot trust it to you, 
as an energetic member of the examining party.” 

“Goodness! — do you count me, in earnest, among all 
those uneasy people ? ” cried the joiner, springing up ; 
“ what do I understand of the whole absurdity ? I went 
with them, because your principal’s name was mentioned 
everywhere, and I thought it my duty to listen, so as to 
be able to warn you. But the person that I could never 
meet, was Herr Hugo Zedwitz ; and afterward, Marquart 
told me that he could have made your eyes clearer than 
was necessary, if you had wanted to see. Do you really 
think I should go in the evenings to see my maiden in 
the Comptroller’s house, if I troubled myself much about 
the matter ? ” 

Hugo nodded contentedly. “You shall know every- 
thing, for I must speak with you, myself, about my next 


200 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


necessary step,” he replied ; “ but first let me know what 
you had to say ; at moments like the present, everything 
is important.” 

“ Well, it may interest you, at least,” answered the 
joiner, looking at his friend half roguishly. “I only 
wanted to say, that it is a remarkable marriage that your 
princess has made. In the four weeks since she was mar- 
ried, she has met her husband only at meal-time, and not 
always then. He has rooms on one side of the great 
house, and she on the other. He spends the whole day 
in the city, and many a time does not come home at 
night, and then old Henderson stays in the house as a 
protection. The young wife lives entirely secluded, scarce- 
ly ever going into the city, and Jhe colored woman de- 
clares that her mistress does not seem to be married any 
more than herself.” 

Hugo had listened attentively to all this, which the 
joiner related with evident delight in the effect he was 
producing ; but suddenly he turned away, as if becoming 
conscious of his own excitement. “Servants’ gossip, 
Heinrich,” he said ; “ they may not be perfectly happy 
together, but that is all.” 

“ As the Herr referendary pleases ; the affair does n’t 
concern me,” answered the joiner with another look of 
mischief ; “ at all events, Henderson has commanded 
silence about the circumstances, at peril of one’s life ; and 
you can find out the truth from him very easily.” 

Hugo had turned his back on his friend, and walked 
away ; he could not hide the expression which this ac- 
' count had brought upon his face, and the thought of its 
possible truth made a strange sensation thrill through 
him. Jessy’s remarks, that she had followed an unavoid- 
able necessity, but had nothing to regret, — that there was 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


201 


no reason that could rob her of the smallest portion of 
his regard, had some meaning for him now, as well as 
many a mysterious hint of Henderson’s. But then came 
suddenly the declaration of the old man, that the girl 
had been caught in a diabolical snare, and forced into 
this marriage ; he realized that she had saved herself 
from the disgrace of pretending any affection or respect 
for the man who had been forced upon her, but the hap- 
piness of her whole life was destroyed ; and an angry 
feeling came over him, making him clench his hands, 
though, at the thought of his own inability to help her, he 
could have wept. For a moment he felt as if a new 
hope had arisen for him, in this unexpected state of 
things ; in the next instant he saw his own insanity, and 
at last there remained but one thought, growing to a defi- 
nite purpose : at least, to ascertain the reason that had 
impelled her to this sacrifice, and ruined his happiness ; 
without this enlightenment he thought he could never be 
at peace again. And so he wished to speak to her once 
more, before he should leave the city, even if she should 
scarcely be willing to allow the meeting, and for himself 
a personal leave-taking would be doubly hard. 

For a little while, he still stood thinking; then he 
turned back to his companion. “I shall have a severe 
collision with my employer to-morrow morning, in conse- 
quence of this letter, Heinrich, and then I shall leave 
him, and give up this city,' since it offers me scarcely any 
prospect beyond becoming bar-keeper or house-servant. 
Afterward I will explain everything to you,” he said, iii 
answer to the joiner’s horrified look, “ only listen now. 
Before this catastrophe I should like to have a private 
conversation with Mrs. Graham, but I want to be sure 
that her husband will not meet me, and that she will not, 


202 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


for any cause, deny herself to me. Can you tell me the 
way for all this, since you are so well acquainted in the 
house ? ” 

The expression of anxiety had vanished from Hein- 
rich’s face at the last turn of this speech, and with a look 
at his friend, he began to rub his nose reflectively. “ I 
think the affair can be managed,” he answered after a 
pause. “ Go with me just at dark to the back-door, and 
I will take care to find out whether the Comptroller is in 
the way. Then wait till the mistress goes into the parlor, 
as she always does after supper, and I will see that the 
colored woman shall take you in without delay ; when 
there is anything going on against the new master, she is 
always on hand ! ” 

Hugo continued to ponder for an instant more ; then 
he nodded decidedly. li At six o’clock we will meet here 
at the house ! ” he said, giving his hand to his friend. 

“ At six o’clock, here at the house ! ” the latter re- 
peated ; “ now give me a light, or I shall see spectres in 
the darkness ! ” 

Two hours later, Hugo rode up the hill to Winter’s 
farm-house. He felt that he could not go without seeing 
Carry, who, from the first moment of his arrival, had 
surrounded him with all the kindness of her nature ; and 
even if he knew that he had never been able to entertain a 
deep feeling for her, if he was glad, on the girl’s account, 
that the sudden necessity for departure would put an end 
to his hesitation, yet he could not help being sorry, when 
he thought of her fresh, smiling face, and her lovely eyes, 
which he was to see no more. 

As he went up the steps, she came toward him from the 
hall, beaming as if with inward happiness. “ Oh, to-day 
we will have you here longer, Mr. Zedwitz ! ” she cried, 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


203 


giving him her hand, and leading him to the parlor, 
“Father is coming, toward evening, and he charged me 
to keep you here ; he must have something important to 
say to you ! ” 

He looked into her animated face, and it seemed to him 
almost a barbarity, to scatter her illusions with cold 
words. But he had no choice. 

“ Yet I must go away very soon, Miss Carry ! ” he an- 
swered slowly, holding her hand in his ; “ I have come, 
only to take leave — I am going away from the city to- 
morrow ! ” 

She looked as if she did not understand him. “To 
take leave? Going away? Father said nothing about 
it ! ” she said, the color coming and going in her face. 

“ He does not know of it,” he answered, seeing the need 
of coming quickly to the point ; “ events have happened, 
which compel me to ask my dismissal of Mr. Winter, but 
I could not go, without thanking you for all the friendli- 
ness you have shown me, Miss Carry ! ” 

His voice had become more agitated than he wished, 
and the color in her face suddenly faded. “ But it — it 
is impossible,” she stammered, her lips quivering ; “ my 
father just said to-day, that he had a plan for you — there 
must be only a misunderstanding.” 

“Let us not make our parting more difficult, Miss 
Carry,” he entreated, pressing her hand, “ it must be, so 
ask me no more — ” the speaker felt himself growing 
weak before the girl’s trembling eyes, and made a motion 
to take his hat; but she suddenly laid her hand on his 
arm. 

“ Only tell me why, Mr. Zedwitz, why ? ” she cried in 
an agitated tone ; then she turned away, no longer able to 
restrain her tears. 


204 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


* He could not leave her in this way. “Carry / 5 he said, 
coming nearer; and in his desire to pacify her, he laid 
his hand lightly on her shoulder ; but she hid her face, 
in a burst of weeping. “ Is it then impossible that you 
should remain — you must speak to father / 5 she sobbed ; 
“ is it quite impossible ? 55 

Hugo, fighting with his own weakness, was at a loss 
how to end the scene. “No one should use the word im- 
possible as to the change of a resolution , 55 he answered 
to soothe her excitement. “ To-morrow morning I will 
have a conversation with Mr. Winter — so let us now part 
quietly, Miss Carry ! 55 

She raised her head and smiled at him through her 
tears. “ O, if it depends on us / 5 she said, “ I know you 
will stay ! 55 her face brightening; he felt at this moment, 
that he could give a turn to his fate, which would offer 
him every -external gratification; but the consciousness 
that this was a decisive moment, helped him to overcome 
the temptation. “ Good-bye then, Miss Carry / 5 he said, 
pressing her hand, and seizing his hat; he saw that with- 
out answering his farewell, she was looking at him in new 
anxiety ; but the door closed between them, and the Ger- 
man hastened to find his horse. He rode away at a sharp 
trot, until he reached the end of the domain ; then he 
moderated his speed, as if to collect his thoughts. If he 
had not known Jessy, if it had been shown that Winter 
was implicated in Graham’s treachery, without fault of 
his own — “yes, if ! 55 he cried half aloud, in conclusion ; 
and at the thought of the young wife, and the interview 
which he intended to have with her that day, every im- 
pression of the past scene vanished. 

The streets of the city already showed the straight lines 
of gas-lights, which were yet insufficient to do more than 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


205 


change the darkness to a sort of twilight, when Hugo 
and Mangold, going through a part of the aristocratic 
quarter of the city, at last turned into a narrow side-lane, 
bounded by strong wooden fences. 

“ Now come slowly after me ; I know every stone as 
well as by daylight I” said the joiner, softly, taking his 
friend’s hand, to lead him along the path ; soon he cau- 
tiously opened a door, which gave a view of a courtyard 
paved with brick, and partially lighted from the windows 
of a great house. “Stay here till I come back,” he 
whispered, taking his friend to a dark corner of the en- 
closure ; “ I will reconnoitre, and you shall know at once 
how things are !” 

He vanished in the darkness of the yard, and Hugo 
had leisure to examine the house before him, and to repeat 
once more what he intended to say to her, who was so 
little expecting him. He felt his heart beating, notwith- 
standing his firm determination, and only when, in a 
little while, he heard the joiner coming back lightly and 
hastily, full assurance returned at the approach of the 
decisive moment. 

“ All right, and so much ceremony not at all neces- 
sary,” cried Mangold, before he came up. “ The maid 
knows you, and seems to know something more, besides 
— it would not have taken much to make her come for 
you. They do not expect Graham until late to-night, so 
forward I” 

Hugo was led into a low, lighted passage on the ground 
floor — he looked through an open door into the kitchen, 
and it scarcely pleased him to take this way into the 
house ; but the colored woman, -who came to meet him, 
gave him no time to change his resolution. “ My mis- 
tress is alone in the parlor ; I will take you there, sir,” 
18 


206 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


she said, hastily going before him through the dining- 
room, whence a few steps led up to the brightly illumi- 
nated hall. “Here, sir,” she whispered, as they both 
reached the last step, and she laid her hand on the handle 
of the nearest door ; then, quickly opening it, she ushered 
him into the room with a loud, “ Mr. Zedwitz, ma’am !” 

Jessy was sitting at a table in the middle of the room, 
engaged in looking over some handsome books, and she 
looked up, as if not comprehending the announcement ; 
but when her eye fell upon the new comer, she rose, her 
color changed, and she grasped the table, as if to support 
herself. “ Mr. Zedwitz !” she said, presently, partially 
overcoming her surprise, while Hugo, unable to speak a 
word, stood opposite to her. 

“ I have alarmed you,” he said, at last, slowly going 
up to her ; “ I could not leave the city, as I shall do to- 
morrow, without seeing you once more — perhaps you 
would not have granted a last word to one who did not 
answer your letter, because he did not believe it, but 
would speak with you face to face !” At the expression 
of her face, and the loss of self-control which she showed 
upon recognizing him, he was seized by a feeling that 
prevented him from thinking of what he said. “ Is it not 
true, you will not send me away, since after these words 
I shall never see you again? — it is not like the time 
when you spoke a similar word to ?we,” he interrupted 
himself with a smile that came like a deep pain into his 
face; “ I will myself take care that I shall not cross your 
path again !” 

“ What have you to say to me, Mr. Zedwitz ?” she 
asked, her pale features becoming rigid ; “ I have spoken 
to you already with entire honesty, and I have nothing 
to add, nor to take away.” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


207 


He looked for an instant into her eyes, which now met 
his quietly. “ It may be so/’ he said, recovering him- 
self, “ and I came here only to take leave, and to press 
your hand. But as it is a parting for life, I would like 
to take your image in my soul in perfect clearness and 
certainty — if I am to think of you as of the dead, would 
you not wish me to do it without any doubt ?” 

“What is it, sir?” she asked, her voice trembling 
slightly. 

“You spoke to me of an unavoidable necessity, that 
brought you into your present relationship,” he con- 
tinued calmly. “ It is quite true, as you told me, that I 
have no right to ask an explanation ; but you have met 
me as a friend, who, for the sake of a friend’s regard, 
would be perfectly frank — may this friend, then, ask 
about that which is obscure to him? You may have 
nothing to regret in your actions ; yet I know that, amid 
all the gifts that Heaven has showered upon you, your 
life is unhappy and unsuccessful. And am I to go away 
with this contradiction paining me, hiding your whole 
existence in unsolved doubt, and leaving me no un- 
troubled recollections? But I will not torment you,” he 
added, as he saw an expression of painful emotion in her 
eyes ; “ tell me that I must go, and I will go, even with- 
out an answer !” 

She raised her head, her glance became quiet and fixed, 
and a tinge of red came again to her cheeks. “ I will 
tell you what seems so necessary for your satisfaction,” 
she said, slowly; “perhaps I owe it to you, and it will 
take but few words. Then go — and think of me as dead.” 
For a moment she appeared to be gathering her strength. 
“ My father passes for a rich man,” she went on ; “ he is 
not so, and for the last year he has with difficulty con- 


208 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


cealed his embarrassments, by Graham’s help. I have a 
brother and sister, whose future, as well as that of my 
parents, would be ruined by Mr. Winter’s failure. Gra- 
ham offered my father an association, which would not 
only avert the momentary danger, but in time would 
give back to my father his previous prosperity, and 
secure the future of my family ; but the price of this 
rescue was Graham’s marriage with me — ” 

Hugo shook his head in such overwhelming emotion 
that the speaker stopped. “ That is it, that is the diaboli- 
cal snare ! ” cried the young man, as if forgetting himself 
for the instant. “O, Miss Jessy — you allowed me to 
call you so,” he continued, “ let us talk quietly for a mo- 
ment ; I know well, that all is too late, but you must see 
clearly for your own sake.” He drew a chair up to the 
table, while Jessy, looking at him in sudden, anxious sus- 
picion, mechanically took her seat. 

“To rescue Mr. Winter from financial ruin, you say, 
you have sacrificed yourself?” began Hugo, compelling 
himself to speak quietly ; “ who told you that your father 
was in such a position ? ’’ 

“ My father himself, sir,” she replied, gazing at him. 

“ O, Henderson was right ! ” cried Hugo, again over- 
come by excitement. “Your father, since he has been 
able to exercise any influence over you, has never been in 
business embarrassments; every year he has found his 
property increased, and his money affairs are as little in- 
volved to-day as they have ever been ; if Mr. Winter 
passes for a rich man, so he is, in the fullest sense in which 
it can be taken.” 

Her face grew as white and still as marble. “ But what 
can you know of Mr. Winter’s affairs ? ” she said, with an 
effort, and in scarcely audibly tones. “He gave me his 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


209 


sacred word, that only in this alliance with Graham could 
there be safety for him — ” 

“ O, because he was utterly in the toils of this man ! ” 
interrupted the German, with all the earnestness of his 
emotion ; “ or, because he was blinded by the demon of 
avarice, for he is not so easy to deceive. Have you heard 
nothing of the last doings of the two, which will give the 
Comptroller up to justice, and only let Mr. Winter go 
free, if he is silent ? And how do I know the state of 
affairs ? Has not your father desired to make me his 
business representative ? have I not had the books before 
me for three weeks, and gone through entry after entry, 
as far as the doings of the various years were accessible ? ” 

She looked at him for some seconds in silence ; then 
she rose slowly, took a step forward, and suddenly, before 
Hugo could spring to her, fell down by one of the sofas, 
w r ith her head upon the cushions. But when the young 
man would have approached in terror, she stretched out 
her arm to keep him back, and a choking cry of grief 
broke from her, as if her heart was broken. “ Betrayed ! 
betrayed ! sacrificed for the sake of money, sacrificed by 
my own father ! ” 

“For heaven’s sake, control yourself!” said Hugo; 
“all is not yet lost, and who knows whether you may not 
need all your strength for what may come.” 

She rose, pressing her hand against her temples. 
“Nothing more horrible can come,” she cried, in a broken 
voice, beginning to walk hurriedly about the room ; “ I 
could never have believed it, if a presentiment had not 
already been pressing upon me. Why, oh ! why has this 
come to me ? ” 

The young man stood helpless before this outburst of 
sorrow, whose echo sounded in his own heart ; just then 
18 * 0 


210 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


some one knocked at the door : when it hastily opened, 
and the countenance of the colored woman appeared with 
the announcement: “Mr. Graham is coming, ma’am; 
Henderson says he will be here immediately — Mr. Gra- 
ham, ma’am!” Jessy stood up and seemed for the first 
time conscious of the objects around her. 

“Mr. Graham?” she repeated mechanically; then her 
eye suddenly flashed. “He comes at the right time, at 
the right time ! ” she cried in new excitement. “Go in 
here, sir, until I call you as witness ! ” She turned to the 
German, and going to the door of the other parlor, opened 
it. Hugo held his hand out to her in deep anxiety, and 
without concealing his agitation, said: “I am at your 
service, with my life, but you will do yourself harm in 
this way — take counsel with yourself as to what you 
are about to do ! ” She took his hand in an earnest clasp, 
and her features quivered as if she was struggling to re- 
strain her tears. “ I know your kind intentions, for which 
I cannot sufficiently thank you,” she said ; “but now let 
me do as I will ; I should become mad, if I had to shut 
everything up within myself!” 

The sound of a key in the house-door was heard, and 
it acted like an electric shock on the young wife. “ It 
is he, go — he shall not see you, till it is necessary ! ” she 
whispered ; and Hugo, unable to do otherwise, went into 
the dark room, whose half-closed entrance gave him a 
free view of the apartment he had left. 

In a moment, the door opened noisily, and Graham 
entered, but stood still on seeing Jessy, who awaited him, 
supporting herself on the table. The German noticed at 
the first glance, that the Comptroller must have come from 
a drinking-house. His face was red, while his eyes had 
a singularly heavy look; the hat, which he only now 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


211 


took off, had been resting on the back of his head, and 
with all this, agreed the laughter into which he broke 
after his first glimpse of her who was waiting for him. 

“ Good evening, dear Jessy ! Are you turned to stone 
by my punctual return ? ” he began ; “ but don’t be 
anxious, child, nothing remarkable has happened, I only 
■wanted to speak a loving word or two to you.” He 
laughed again. “You know that, to-morrow, in spite of 
all this examining-nonsense, we are to have a great com- 
pany here. Now, dear, I should like for the first time 
to introduce my wife, who shall be my loving wife, you 
know, Jessy. I say : my loving wife — do you under- 
stand ? ” 

“No, I do not understand ! ” sounded Jessy’s voice in 
perfect serenity. Hugo had been obliged to give up his 
view of her, if he would keep his eye on the Comptroller, 
without being discovered, himself. “ But I see that you 
are in no condition to be in a lady’s company ! ” 

“ Condition — pshaw ! ” he answered ; “ Winter has 
gone home, and why shouldn’t I come too ? So you don’t 
understand me? well, let us sit down, to come to an un- 
derstanding ! ” he continued phlegmatically, taking the 
nearest chair, falling heavily upon it, and stretching his 
feet out. “You will continue to stand? Good; you have 
your free will ; but it will be well for you to listen atten- 
tively ! ” He bent forwards to look at her, and laughed 
again. “I was just thinking of the old scamp to whom 
you have been such a good daughter — I beg pardon, 
Jessy, I mean your father ; he told me this evening, with 
accuracy, for the first time, how I happened to get you 
for my wife — what you call ‘ wife ’ ! But it can’t go so, 
any longer ; and as you are a good daughter, you will 
behave properly ! The case stands as follows: The rogues, 


212 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


who call themselves a committee of inquiry, are upon my 
heels on account of some private affairs that your father 
and I have managed, and they would be rejoiced if they 
could hang us both. The old fox, that is to-say, your father, 
Jessy, has taken care of himself, and they will have to' 
let him off, unless I speak. Ha! child, do you under- 
stand that ? ten years in the state’s prison may come out 
of it, unless I do something. And I will do nothing, 
because I make no account of my own life, which you 
have spoiled. No regular home, no domestic comfort, 
from morning until evening among strangers, so that one 
doesn’t care to see his own house — what should I do 
with such a life? He is in great difficulty, your father,” 
he continued with a hateful laugh ; “affairs may go pretty 
unpleasantly for him, and I have told him that if my life 
can be changed now, I will take care that he goes free, 
as if I were caring for my own freedom, even if I have 
to go to foreign lands for a year or two ; and he told me, 
that his house should never offer shelter to a daughter 
who would bring him into misfortune ; I am to attend to 
my own comfort. But nothing can help me, without your 
consent,” he went on, looking up at her; “either I must 
be able to feel that I have a loving wife and some kind of 
domestic comfort, or I shall give myself no more trouble, 
and you will have the satisfaction of knowing how it 
feels, when your husband and your father are in the 
state’s prison ! ” He looked at her for a moment with the 
same hateful expression, and then approached her with 
uncertain steps. “Jessy, be reasonable, and don’t make 
us all unhappy — give me a kiss ! ” 

“ Back, sir! ” sounded Jessy’s half terrified voice, “or 
I will call for help ! ” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


213 


Hugo stood, trembling in every limb, ready for any 
deed. 

“Help? against an affectionate man in his own house?” 
jeered the intoxicated man ; “ now, my dove, don’t be af- 
fected ; the time for this jesting is over ! ” 

Hugo saw him raise his arms, and in the next instant 
the master of the house had been hurled the whole length 
of the room, while the athletic figure of the German 
towered between him and Jessy. 

Graham at first seemed quite robbed of his senses by 
the sudden attack ; he looked at the unexpected appari- 
tion for a while, as if out of his mind, until all at once 
the feeling of his domestic authority seemed to come 
to him. “ Who is that ? who are you ? with what right 
are you here, sir ? ” he asked, coming nearer, with venge- 
ful eyes, while his right hand slid slowly into the breast- 
pocket of his coat. 

“ With the right, that every gentleman has, when he 
sees a lady threatened with insolence ! ” answered Hugo, 
firmly. “ But if you desire nearer acquaintance, I am 
at your service at any moment! — Go, madam,” he said, 
turning to Jessy, who was still leaning against the table, 
with terror in her face ; “ I would like to speak a little 
further with this gentleman ! ” 

“ No, you go ! ” shrieked Graham, into whose face sud- 
den fury had flashed ; and in the same instant the Ger- 
man was confronted with the six barrels of a revolver ; 
Jessy uttered a cry, and made a movement as if to rush 
before her protector ; but before Graham could provide 
against his attack, he had seized his opponent’s wrist in a 
tight grasp. 

“Go, madam!” Hugo repeated, amid the vain attempts 
which the Comptroller made to free his arm ; “I will 


214 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


settle tliis affair with this gentleman ! ” but the young 
wife seemed rooted to the spot. A heavy tread rang out- 
side the room-door, but no one in the apartment noticed 
it. Graham stood with his glowing eyes fastened on his 
adversary’s, who, watchfully, followed every movement, 
while the muscles in the arms of both seemed at their 
full tension. The door opened, but no one knew it, until, 
with an inquiring look, a broad-shouldered figure came 
into the room, and without regarding the extraordinary 
and silent group, laid a heavy hand on the shoulder of 
the master of the house. “Mr. Graham, you are my 
prisoner!” he said immediately, and Hugo felt his oppo- 
nent’s resistance give way as if in terror. With a quick 
motion he took possession of the revolver, and then, for 
the first time, looked up, to gain some information as to 
this surprising event. 

“Lay your weapon aside, till we have fulfilled our 
duty, sir ! ” said the man, under whose hand the Comp- 
troller, who had grown deadly pale, threatened to break 
down ; and Hugo, with a sudden recognition of the truth, 
gave the revolver to the new-comer. “ It is best in your 
hands, Sheriff,” he replied, “it is Mr. Graham’s property!” 

With a nod, the official let it disappear into his pocket, 
and turned toward the young wife, who was standing like 
a marble statue, watching all that went on. “ I am un- 
happy enough, madam, to have to disturb the peace of 
your family, but the law knows no respect,” he said, 
politely ; “ I have, alas ! to take Mr. Graham with me ! ” 

“ I will give bail, whatever reason there may be for 
this singular arrest,” cried the prisoner, evidently striving 
to maintain a dignified attitude ; “ I beg you to give me 
an opportunity of having the affair arranged ! ” 

“ I scarcely think, sir, that anything can be done this 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


215 


evening, and under existing circumstances it would be dif- 
ficult for you to produce the necessary amount of bail ! ” 
answered the Sheriff with a contemptuous laugh. “ Pray 
follow me quietly ; whatever is needed for your comfort, 
can be brought after you, and to-morrow we shall see 
further ! ” 

A powerful pressure from the official’s hand, with 
which he urged the Comptroller toward the door, seemed 
to annihilate all the latter’s courage ; he went in silence 
to the entrance-way, where two other officers now ap- 
peared, ready to receive him ; Hugo’s eyes turned anx- 
iously to Jessy’s face, in which there was a strange, quiv- 
ering motion ; and scarcely had he turned to her after the 
door closed, when she threw herself upon him in an agnny 
of weeping. He felt that she was falling, the strength of 
her emotion, under which her whole frame shook, terrified 
him, and left him no feeling but anxiety for her ; he car- 
ried rather than led her to a sofa, and laid her down ; he 
knew that quieting words would be in vain, and with a 
feeling of relief he saw the door open, and Henderson’s 
face appear at it. “Call the chamber-maid ! ” he said, softly ; 
“ we must, above everything else, give the sufferer rest!” 

“ Everything will come, as it should,” murmured the 
old man, before he departed, looking keenly at them 
both ; “ the rest will not tarry long.” 

The German watched the sobbing girl as a sacred 
trust ; he knew that only agitation and weakness could 
have brought her into her present position. It thrilled 
him to feel, so near him, in the silence that surrounded 
them, the motion of her frame ; he could have pressed 
his lips upon her clustering hair, as she lay, almost un- 
conscious ; but he restrained himself. And as he heard 
the steps of some one approaching, he whispered : “ Raise 


216 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


yourself, and go to rest ; whatever may happen, count on 
me as your truest friend !” At the first sound she seemed 
to become suddenly aware of her condition ; she rose 
quickly, and her sobbing ceased, while she gazed at him 
vacantly ; as if scarcely conscious of what had happened, 
she glanced around the room, and when, at this moment, 
the colored woman came in, she hastened towards her. 
But when half way across the room, she stopped, and 
pressed her hand against her brow. Then she turned 
back slowly to the young man. “ I recollect,” she said, 
giving him her hand with a look of infinite pain ; “ do 
not let me be alone to-morrow ; I have no one, no one at 
all !” Then, without using Flora’s support, she left the 
room. 

Hugo would much rather not have slept again at Win- 
ter’s place of business ; he felt an invincible repugnance 
to making use of the smallest part of his former situation ; 
but Henderson was to pass the night near the young w T ife, 
in case of need, and so his inclination had to yield to his 
yet unfinished duty. 

He went home in company with the joiner, who kept 
close by him, but seemed without the courage to break in 
upon his friend’s thoughtful silence. As they were going 
across an open place, on which the sky looked down, with 
all its brightly shining stars, Hugo suddenly stood still, and 
seized his old schoolmate’s hand. “ Heinrich,” he said, 
looking up into the heavens, “ there is something won- 
derfully great in science for the understanding, but it 
gives still greater satisfaction to the heart. Heinrich, I 
could pray to-night.” 

It was long after midnight before the excited young 
man could sleep, and on the next morning he was wak- 
ened from heavy, confused dreams, by a knocking at his 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


217 


door, when the sun was already shining in at his window. 
He sprang up alarmed, dressed himself hastily, and opened 
the door. 

Henderson, with a pale face, met him. “God bless 
your sleep/’ he said, in a mysterious tone, coming in and 
cautiously closing the door ; “have you really just risen, 
and don’t you know anything of what has happened ?” 

“ Anything else ?” asked the German, studying intently 
the strange expression in the old man’s face. “ I did not 
go to sleep until the gray of the morning.” 

Henderson nodded, and opened his eyes wider. “ Some- 
thing else I” he answered, slowly. “ He killed himself 
in prison in the night I” 

“ Graham ?” cried Hugo, in horror, while, at the same 
time, a sudden feeling of joy went through him, of which 
at the next instant he strove to feel ashamed. 

“ Graham !” repeated the old man, “ and it is known 
all over the city. I told Mr. Winter the news, as soon 
as he came here.” 

“ Well ?” asked the young man, with new eagerness. 

Henderson went close up to him. “ He looked at me 
for half a minute, as if struck by lightning, drew a deep 
breath, and said : ‘ Thank God, Henderson, we shall not 
get into that difficulty again ! ’ and I almost said ‘thank 
God ’ too, horrible as it is. He drove immediately to 
Graham’s house, and I followed him — but Miss Jessy 
would not receive him ; there must be something between 
father and daughter, that I do not know, and cannot find 
out. But I was going to tell you, that she has asked 
after you already. She knows all that has occurred, and 
needs other support than old Henderson can afford her ! ” 

Hugo walked about the room excitedly. “ You have 
been a true, good friend to me,” he said, stopping before 
19 


218 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


the old man, and gratefully grasping his hand ; “ only 
tell me one thing, unless this is an improper time to touch 
on such a point. You and Flora have known something 
of my name before my arrival here — how was it ? ” 

“ I really see no reason why it should be an unbecom- 1 
ing time for the question,” answered the old man, a 
shadow going over his face ; “ I think no one in our house 
can deplore the man who has made away with himself 
because of his sin and shame, instead of taking his just 
punishment.” He passed his hand slowly over his face. 
“ There was a little card, with the name ‘ Hugo Zedwitz/ 
sir,” he continued, “ which was often Miss Jessy’s only 
companion, which she brooded over, as if it led her 
thoughts into some foreign lands where the name was not 
merely a sound. That is all, sir ; but I think,” he 
added* a gleam of his accustoiiied humor flitting for an 
instant over his face, “ we have found the right meaning. 
And now make haste !” 

A quarter of an hour later, Hugo was standing before 
the Comptroller’s house* and at the ringing of the bell the 
colored woman presented a half-distracted face, which 
quickly brightened when she saw the German. With a 
hasty nod, she went before him up the steps, and, without 
any announcement, opened the door of the room in which 
her mistress was. The first glance showed him heaps of 
clothing lying about, and two open trunks ; the second 
fell on Jessy* who, as pale as marble, but with the fire 
of her dark eyes unquenched, rose from a seat near the 
table. 

“ I must go, sir, must go from this house, from this 
city ! ” she said, hastily. “ Do not leave me,” she con- 
tinued, stretching out her hands to him ; “ you have 
taught me to count on you in the Worst needs, and I am 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


219 


alone, all alone, if you go away. I will go eastward, 
where I intend to stay with a family that I know, until 
all the affairs are arranged, of which I cannot now think. 
Help me ; I cannot see again the man who calls himself 
my father, and I dare not meet the dead body, which 
they will perhaps bring into this house.” 

A shudder suddenly ran over her frame, and Hugo 
pressed her hand warmly and soothingly. “ I understand 
your position fully, and you know you have your most 
faithful friend near you,” he answered, repressing his own 
emotion. “ Shall I be claiming too much, if I act in your 
name, freely ? ” 

“ Too much ? ” she asked, looking up as if surprised. 
But all at once her eyes grew darker with unshed tears, 
she raised her arms, and threw them around his neck. 
“ Here you have full possession : do with all that belongs 
to me as you will ; I have no one now but you ! ” she 
cried, breaking into a flood of weeping. But instantly, 
as if growing more conscious of her condition, she raised 
herself, and with a face becoming brighter through the 
still streaming tears, she took a full pocket-book from the 
writing-table. “ Here is enough for all that will be needed 
for the present,” she said, putting it into his hand ; “ now 
take charge of everything, that I may think of nothing 
but you. Only one thing,” she said ; “ Henderson must 
be left out of the account ; he clings to his faith in his 
old master, and I will not rob him of his trust in his old 
age.” For an instant, a shade lay upon her pale features ; 
then she said nervously : “ Now go ! ” and in another mo- 
ment Hugo was out of the room. 

Half-way up the stairs the serving-maid was waiting, 
and her intent gaze compelled Hugo to collect his 
distracting thoughts. “ Go in, Flora, your mistress needs 


220 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


you,” he cried, hastening by her, “ in two hours we shall 
leave ! ” 

As he went out into the open air, he saw the joiner on 
the other side of the street, hastening toward him ; and 
now for the first time he fully realized what joy was 
springing up in his heart. Mangold, on hearing the news 
of Graham’s death, had been unable to go on with his 
work, and had sought for his friend at the office, where 
Winter had just left an order, that any one who asked for 
him should be told to call the next day. Of all his eager 
words, Hugo heard only the fact of Winter’s absence, which 
removed every obstacle from the way of his immediate 
departure ; and he grasped the joiner’s arm. “ Heinrich, 
can you think how all this has come about ? ” he asked, 
overcome by his new happiness. His companion stopped, 
and looked up quickly with a questioning glance ; but 
Hugo only nodded, and drew him on. “ Now come and 
pack my trunk, while I go to see Graham’s lawyer,” he 
said ; “ in an hour you shall hear what is as yet, even to 
me, like a dream — an impossibility.” 


X. 


HEART-TRIALS — RETURN — CONCLUSION. 

OW, dear Messner, to come to a decisive subject — 



A- ' to-morrow will be Christmas-eve, from which I have 
promised myself so many little gratifications — how do 
your affairs stand ? At your wish, I have for six weeks 
abstained from using any influence over the women’s 
department ; have you, yourself, accomplished anything, 
or have you reached the conclusion, that in family poli- 
tics, toleration is the worst policy ? ” 

It was in the well-warmed cabinet of the Counsellor 
Zedwitz, where he was resting in a comfortable chair, 
lighted by the rays from a shaded lamp, while the school- 
director had taken a seat opposite him, and at the sudden 
question, which cut short a general conversation, looked 
up in some disquietude. 

“You know, Herr Counsellor,” he began hesitatingly, 
“ that it is my highest wish to stand in the relation of son 
to you ; and I may say that, for sometime, I have had a 
firm assurance of reaching this goal, and perfect happi- 
ness for myself ; but I would ask you with my whole heart 
to let every disposition go its own peculiar way. Many 
a thing may turn out otherwise than as you have designed ; 
but if it only arranges itself rightly, if only your chil- 
dren’s happiness, which is the aim of your anxiety and 
even of your severity, is thereby reached ; even this dif- 
19 * 221 


222 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


ferent way may seem right to you, and I know you must 
gain a tenfold love. Give me the right, Herr Counsellor, 
to speak as frankly to you as my respect and real regard 
for your family demand!” he continued with excitement. 
“ Six weeks have passed, since I came to the clear convic- 
tion that I could never gain a son’s right in your house 
by using compulsion ; and you made me happy with the 
promise to defer any further action in my affairs. Yet 
no joy has come into the family circle, and the present 
peace seems to have made all hearts only more distrustful 
and anxious over what may be developed. To-morrow 
will be Christmas eve, and if I can trust my owm sight, 
it will in the present temper of things scarcely be a joy- 
ful one. It is, moreover, as I have guessed, the first on 
which the son and brother has been absent, and yet, 
Herr Counsellor, a single friendly word that would show 
the father’s heart without concealment, that at least would 
take from all hearts the fear of a dreaded decision which 
my appearance always newly awakens, would make the 
evening bright. You see, Herr Counsellor, that I prefer 
visiting your room to encountering the silent looks that 
greet me in the grandmother’s apartment, and to-morrow 
least of all, would I bring upon me the guilt of spoiling 
the evening for the ladies by my presence.” 

Zedwitz had slowly risen. “ And w T ith all this, you say 
that you hope certainly to enter my family as a son ? ” 

“ And without using force on any heart — even if in 
another way than the one you intended, Herr Counsellor ; ” 
answered Messner, a color coming into his cheeks. “ If 
I enjoy any of your confidence,” he continued, “give me 
freedom to obtain what I desire, and tell the grand- 
mother that you will not touch, even by your paternal 
authority in your own family, the natural right of every 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


223 


woman to change her mind. O, believe me, Herr Coun- 
sellor,” he added, as a deep furrow showed itself between 
the eyebrows of the old man, “ that every severe virtue, 
every rigid conviction, may become wrong if carried out 
to its remotest consequences, and believe also, that a heart 
that knows no mildness, renounces its best happiness, 
repels the truest love, and at last must grow hard in its 
loneliness. To-morrow will be Christmas eve — think of 
it, for the sake of all our happiness, Herr Counsellor ! ” 

The old man looked fixedly at the speaker, and on his 
brow came and went an expression of painful thought. 
He walked slowly across the room. Then he stopped, a 
short distance from Messner. “ I have always thought, 
dear friend, that we understood one another, but it is not 
so ! ” he said, in a calm voice. “ I have never shown you 
so hard a heart, so far as I know.” 

“Herr Counsellor, just because I know the depth of 
benevolence that dwells within you” — interrupted Mess- 
ner, springing up from his chair; but Zedwitz prevented, 
by a gesture, any further words. 

“ And where I have been called hard,” the latter went 
on, “ I have only held fast to principles that I have al- 
ways made the guide of my life. But who, under the 
consequences which a man’s self-respect brings upon him, 
has oftenest suffered — I, whom you call hard, or those 
who thought they could play carelessly with my convic- 
tions, ought first to be decided. There was a case, that 
cut deep into our family life,” he continued with a gloomy 
face, “ which you may perhaps learn. It has lately been 
taken from its grave, and held before my eyes ; but she 
who did it, did not know that she was calling up the 
whole completed warfare of a man with his own weakness, 
and the ^clearness and peace of conscience he had gained, 


224 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


and only strengthening him in his convictions. You will 
at all events hear some time the sad story, when my charac- 
teristics are being discussed,” he said bitterly, “ and so I 
should rather give it to you correctly.” 

He took his place again in his arm-chair, and pressed 
his hand against his eyes, while Messner, with an in- 
terested look, seated himself near him. 

“ I was already past thirty, when I took my first de- 
cisive step towards establishing my domestic life,” he be- 
gan, looking down ; “ I was serious, and had been accus- 
tomed to severe duties on my own part, as well as to re- 
quiring them of others ; so I possessed few attractions for 
women. But I knew that the hand I should offer to my 
future wife, was safe and sure. I had become acquainted 
with a young lady of good family, and I asked her in 
marriage, but announced openly the claims that I should 
make on my wife; and notwithstanding several other 
suitors, I succeeded without much difficulty. I suspected 
that my position and prospects had cast considerable 
weight into the scale, yet I was happy ; I knew that a 
firm mutual respect offers a surer guaranty for lasting 
happiness, than that love in young hearts, that does not 
fully understand itself ; and I thought I could count on 
my young wife for immovable adherence to all that 
relates to honor and conscience.” The speaker paused, 
and then went on with a quick breath: “After the first 
two years of our marriage, there fell into my hands, by 
accident, a letter received by my wife, not long be- 
fore, — it was from one of her former lovers, who would 
have been her choice, but for me. I read only the 
first few lines, and gave it back to her, with the quiet 
request that, for the sake of her honor and my ow r n, 
she would receive no more such letters ; but I felt 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


225 


for the first time that I cared more for her, than I 
could have believed it possible for me to do. Years 
went by, before, for the second time, the same hand- 
writing drove me from the peace I had attained. ‘Will 
you take away all my memories ? ’ she asked in a 
pained tone, at my reproaches, and then I knew that 
our views, on the points on which I was most sensi- 
tive, ran so far apart, that there could be no thought of 
union, and that nothing remained to me but to make my 
will a law. It was the first breach in our family circle, 
for it was a long time before the hard battle was over for 
me, and a conquering affection for the mother of my 
children suppressed the discord that had been raised in 
my soul.” He paused again, as if lost in thought, and 
then began with a slight sigh : “It was on a wet, cold 
New r Year’s day, when Helen was only three months old, 
that little Hugo brought me the news, in his childish 
fashion, that his mother was in the garden with an officer 
in a foreign uniform, and I knew then that the happiness 
of my life had come to an end. Ten minutes afterward, 
I was at the place which no one visited in such weather, 
and I found the pair in quiet conversation, on a bench 
half hidden in a hedge. I deigned not a glance at her 
old lover, but gave my arm to my wife, and led her 
silently away. Her limbs trembled by my side, she 
tried several times to speak, but everything in me was 
cold and dead ; I could not have said a word, to save my 
life. I left her at the entrance of her room, and shut 
myself in mine. The next day, she sent me word that 
she was sick and must speak to me — but I too felt sick 
unto death ; I sent Mangold for a physician for her and 
refused all communication. Yet, on the third day she 
sent a new, more urgent entreaty for an interview. I 

P 


226 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


would not comply. I should only have held before her 
eyes the confidence forever broken, and our ruined happi- 
ness ; I should have repulsed her because of the levity 
that cared nothing for her husband’s honor; and it would 
have lacerated my own heart. I struggled five days and 
nights with my sorrow, while Mangold watched before 
my door against any new petition ; but then, when she 
had grown stronger, under the care of her mother and 
our old family physician, I went on a short journey, which 
would at least make me capable of work. Two days 
afterwards a letter from the physician called me back ; 
a nervous fever had attacked her soon after my departure. 
I hastened homeward day and night, but when I arrived 
— she was dead ! ” 

He rose, and walked across the room ; then he went to 
the window, and looked out into the dark night. “ Y ou 
remarked,” he said at last, breaking the silence, as he 
slowly went back to his chair, “ that every severe virtue 
may become wrong ; but let us leave to the conscience of 
each one, the boundaries that shall decide single cases : 
it alone can give a true testimony. Through these 
troubles, I have attained to clearness, and I stand justified 
to myself, while others judge me. As to your affairs,” he 
interrupted himself, passing his hand over his face, as if 
effacing something like a gentle look, which had appeared 
at the close of his narration, — “if you wish to receive 
from Helen an order of dismissal, I can of course say 
nothing against it, little as I understand you,” he con- 
tinued ; “ if it suits your plan, you may tell my mother, 
yourself, that I will trouble myself no more with these 
affairs, and if this changes your reason for staying away 
from us to-morrow, I shall be very glad.” 

Messner had just made a movement to grasp the coun- 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


227 


sellor’s hand, when the door opened, and old Mangold 
entered with unwonted haste. “ Y oung Herr Romer begs 
for a minute’s hearing ; he has an important communica- 
tion to make to the Herr counsellor,” he said, scarcely 
taking time to assume his usual subservient attitude ; but 
the features of his master became icy cold in their expres- 
sion. 

“ Herr Romer ? I have no communication to receive 
from the gentleman, nor to give him — tell him that ! ’* 
he answered, turning away ; but the bushy eyebrows of the 
old man moved with such a singular look, that the mas- 
ter involuntarily turned back again. 

“ Herr counsellor — it seems to be on account of the 
same affair, about which I wrote to my son,” answered 
Mangold, timidly, while he glanced uncomfortably at the 
school-director. “ Scarcely an hour ago a letter arrived 
from Heinrich, which I gave to the gracious lady, be- 
cause of other things in it — if the Herr counsellor per- 
haps — ” 

Zedwitz had raised his eyes in keen attention, while 
Messner discreetly left his place, and hastened to the 
door, saying : “ I will be at your service afterward/’ 
For half a minute, the gaze of the former rested on his 
servant’s anxious, faithful eyes, as if in awaking thought. 
“ I wish you had first brought me this letter,” he said, 
knitting his brow ; but Mangold raised his head frankly. 
“ There were things in it, which the Herr counsellor had 
forbidden us to mention before him,” he answered, “ and 
so I hoped that the gracious lady -=*- ” 

The old master cut off his sentence by rising suddenly, 
and walking across the room. “ Let him come in,” he 
said at last, as if deciding against his will, and he stood 
still near the table* with his hands clasped behind hinn 


228 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


Iii a few minutes, Fritz Romer opened the door, and ap- 
proached him with a steady eye and quiet manner. 

“ I know, Herr counsellor,” he l)egan, “ that a sum of 
money has been invested in your name, in the American 
obligations, which were lately in the market. A quarter 
of an hour ago I received certain private information, 
announcing a crisis in relation to this paper, which makes 
its value for the time quite illusory. What improvement 
the future may bring, cannot be foreseen, but in a few 
days these bonds will be worthless in Germany. Yet it 
is perhaps possible for the present holders to save the 
greater part of their money by a speedy sale, as the Ger- 
man agents will certainly prevent, as much as possible, 
the spread of unfavorable news ; so I thought it my duty 
to give you the information at once, in person, and to 
offer you my services in case of your desiring prompt 
action.” 

Zedwitz had listened without a motion, and had only 
become a shade paler. “ I have no reason for doubting 
the truth of your information, for which I thank you,” 
he replied, coldly, after a short pause ; “ but there can be 
no thought of action in the sense you intimate, now that 
I am so instructed, that I should have to sell worthless 
paper, knowingly, as if it were valuable. What may be 
counted skill in a merchant, in some cases,” he added, 
with a slight curl of the lip, “ would here be open dis- 
honesty, and so I am not in a condition to accept your 
proffered service.” 

At the last words, a deep flush came into Romer’s face. 
“ There is a difference between a simply local deprecia- 
tion, and an actual, universal worthlessness,” he answered. 
“ I confess, however, Herr counsellor, that I had prepared 
myself for unfriendly words, and I ask pardon for the 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 229 

feeling that brought me here.” He bowed, and left the 
room. 

Zedwitz gazed steadily at the door through which he 
had vanished ; then he unfolded his arms ; as if overcome 
by sudden weariness, he walked to the nearest chair, sat 
down heavily, and rested his head on his hand. “ He 
would not have come, if his news had not been certain,” 
he murmured, after a while ; “ but it would be horrible 
if it should be confirmed fully — how should I replace 
for the children this played-away capital ? Played away,” 
he continued, slowly raising his head ; “ that is the right 
expression for what has misguided this old head, has 
brought to nothing a whole life of faithfulness to princi- 
ple, and has placed a severe father before his children as 
a culprit. How am I ever to cover this deficiency?” 

His head drooped again upon his hand ; but presently 
he rose, wearily, and took from his desk a well-used note- 
book, slowly turning the leaves. “ The sixth of January,” 
he murmured, pausing, “ that is the day* on which I must 
redeem my lightly given name with the money entrusted 
to me, must hide one sin by another — and what is Mess* 
ner to say,” he interrupted himself, while a new anxiety 
lay upon his brow, “ whom I did not restrain, whom my 
action first encouraged, and whose whole small property 
is now lost ? ” Overwhelmed by his emotions, he threw 
the book upon the desk, and rang the bell. 

“ The letter from your son ! ” he cried, as Mangold en- 
tered ; and after a long, silent look at his master, the old 
man left the room again. 

It was a considerable time — a time during which only 
an occasional movement of his features indicated that the 
counsellor was alive — before the door opened once more; 
but his eyes, as he quickly raised them* fell upon the 
20 


230 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


grandmother, who approached him with a singularly 
beaming look. 

“ I think I bring you consolation, dear son, if you will 
receive it as it is given,” she said, in an agitated voice. 
“In any case, however, young Mangold’s letter saves you 
from the necessity of communicating with us. Kead ! ” 
She gave him, with a trembling hand, an open envelope, 
and seated herself at a little distance. 

Zedwitz looked for a moment at the address, as if, after 
the words he had heard, he hesitated to learn the con- 
tents ; at last he slowly unfolded the pages that he drew 
from their cover. He read, in Heinrich’s decided hand- 
writing: 

“Beloved Father: — Didn’t your good letter give 
us a tremendous fright ? but Hugo had the worst, for you 
know that in spite of all the injustice he has suffered, he 
still clings to his father. The bonds that are mentioned 
in your letter would be good enough, if a fraud had not 
been committed in issuing them, which takes away their 
value, until the inquiry about the affair is completed. 
How t it will be afterward, nobody knows ; but many say 
that the city will recover at last, from the issue of these 
bonds by its officials. One of these officials has already 
killed himself in prison. 

“ But Hugo believes fully, that by the special knowledge 
which he has of the whole business, he can keep his father 
from harm, if he will only accept such a service from him — 
there is the trouble. We think we shall perhaps carry 
out some wise plan in rescuing the money, and get only 
sorry thanks for it ; for Hugo, though he would let him- 
self be cut in pieces for his father, thinks that the old 
gentleman w r ould rather give up his last coat than take a 
favor from his rejected son. You are only an office-ser- 
vant, father, but Heaven knows I wouldn’t exchange 
you for a counsellor ten times greater than this one, with 
so ice-cold a heart. 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


231 


“ But Hugo thinks that his father would n’t suffer alone 
under the stroke, but that the principal loss would fall 
on his sisters, and so it may be possible that he will re- 
ceive permission to take the necessary steps. For his 
own security, however, he must have full authority 
from the old gentleman. It would be best, dear father, 
for you to go yourself to the grandmother, whom God 
bless, with her loving heart, and tell her everything ; she 
will know what is to be done. If she gets him the au- 
thority, Hugo promises that not a penny of the amount 
of the bonds, mentioned in your last letter, shall be lost ; 
the power of attorney is to be sent to Frankfurt, to the 
mercantile house indicated below, whence it will be trans- 
mitted directly to him — he has gone away, and I shall 
have to wait for news from him, before I can know where 
he is. 

“ For the rest, dear father, I am well, and have a good 
living, and I will only say, that, if I should ever give 
you notice that I am married, you needn’t be horrified. 
u Your faithful son, 

. “ Heinrich Mangold.” 

The counsellor sat for a long time with his gaze fixed 
upon the writing; his eyes seemed fastened to certain 
places, that he read over and over again, when at last a 
hand was laid softly on his shoulder. 

“ Is it not true, dear Zedwitz,” said the grandmother’s 
gentle voice, “ that you will let your son atone for what 
he has done against his father by his thoughtless depart- 
ure ? Notwithstanding our uprightness, are we not all 
sinners, and in need of forgiveness ?” 

The counsellor compressed his lips, as if controlling his 
feelings, rose, and walked hastily through the room. 
Then he stood still before the old lady, and looked into 
her eyes. “ I have no decision to make,” he said, with 
evident effort ; “it concerns the girls, and Messner ; but,” 


232 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


he added, stretching his hand out to her, as if vanquished, 
“ I will send the power of attorney ! ” 

When the grandmother left her room, the two sisters 
and the school-director had remained there ; but Helen 
rose immediately afterwards, and vanished into the next 
room. 

“You may tell your sister, what I could not say in the 
midst of the impression made by Mangold’s letter,” began 
Messner, looking after the girl ; “ that my presence need 
no longer disquiet her, that her father gives her entire 
freedom to refuse me, if I should ever give her any cause 
for it, and that she shall be troubled no more with this 
misunderstood wooing, on my part. He has authorized 
me to tell this to her grandmother.” 

Marie had slowly raised her eyes from her work, and 
her color grew paler. “ But,” Messner continued, look- 
ing at her, “ I have obtained this promise by a sort of 
fraud ; I have spoken of my hope of becoming a son of 
the house, notwithstanding Helen’s refusal ; stop Marie,” 
he interrupted himself, springing up, and grasping the 
girl’s hand, as she rose from her seat, with a deep flush 
dyeing her cheeks ; “ I have fulfilled your conditions, 
now play fair ! ” 

She stood hesitatingly before him, but made no attempt 
to draw her hand from his. “ Do you not recollect that 
we have become poor ? that our father will never consent 
to be Hugo’s debtor ? ” she asked, the tears coming into 
her eyes. But he clasped her hand more closely. 

“ And have I not become so ? ” he asked, urgently. 
“ Now I will speak to you frankly, that no shadow of dis- 
trust may come between us again. Answer me, Marie — ” 

“Not now, not now!” she said, interrupting him anx- 
iously; “our misfortune cannot he fully known yet; 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


233 


but,” she added, a faint smile illuminating her fine fea- 
tures, “I think the time of misunderstandings is past. 
Let me take Helen the news ! ” And as if overcome by 
confusion, she freed her hand from his, and hastened out 
of the room. Messner looked after her, in silent, happy 
thought. “ Is it not actually true, then, that woman is 
the ennobling element in the human race?” he murmured 
at last; “what would I have become without her?” 

On the evening of the fifth of January following, two 
young men were sitting in a private apartment, in the 
best hotel of the old city, with two newly-opened bottles 
of wine before them. 

Two hours before, one of them had rushed in excitedly, 
and with a : “ Hugo ! is it possible ! ” had cast himself 
on the breast of his friend. After the first stormy greet- 
ing, laughing with joy, and asking innumerable, frag- 
mentary questions as to what had brought him back to 
Germany, he took him by the shoulders, and looked at 
him, as if he could scarcely believe in the reality. At 
last, the other, with a happy smile, had led his guest to a 
sofa for a quiet conversation. 

“ What brought me here, Fritz ? ” he began. “ First 
of all, my wife, who would stay no longer in her own 
country, where she has suffered.” 

“Your wife? yours — Hugo Zedwitz’s wife ? ” Romer 
interrupted him with a look of amazement ; but his friend 
made a gesture to silence him. 

“ In the name of goodness, don’t shout my name out to 
the world,” he said, laughing; “no one must have a 
suspicion of it until to-morrow. I am here as the au- 
thorized agent of a Frankfurt house, to receive from my 
father the money for a number of American bonds, which 
20 * 


234 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


he has bought ; and I have notified him that I will call 
to-morrow, when his bills fall due — but of course my 
name has not been mentioned. You know that these 
papers are, for the moment, not worth a penny, and yet I 
have contrived that my father should not be injured, what- 
ever may be settled as to the affair. So I shall come 
before him in the quality of a business agent, for I should 
scarcely succeed in my own name.” 

Rbmer shook his head, laughed, and rubbed his hands. 
“ I understand what you say, and yet I don’t understand 
a word of it. Married — power of attorney — not in- 
jured, where thousands are at stake — here in Germany, 
when all my thoughts went over the sea to find you.” 

“You shall grasp the meaning soon enough l*’ laughed 
Hugo, with the expression of satisfaction that the scene 
produced in him. “ But now, before all things, tell me 
what has happened, and how affairs stand at my father’s 
house ! ” 

Two hours passed by in mutual confidences, questions, 
and explanations ; often the glasses rang together, or the^ 
hands were clasped silently; and Hugo, who had reached 
in his account the decisive morning which had given him 
her he loved, took up the thread again : “ I had taken 
Jessy to her temporary refuge in a family of her ac- 
quaintance in Philadelphia, and had gone back, with un- 
limited power to act in her name. The advocate, to 
whom I had entrusted her interests, had already separated 
her own property from the possessions of her husband, and 
had made it secure ; justice had a claim upon the rest. 
But Graham’s suicide, which testified not to his guilt, so 
much as to his ruined honor as a business-man, had now 
produced a great impression on the mercantile world; 
then came the news, that in consequence of the inquiry, 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


235 


the city credit, as well as that of private individuals, had 
suffered a dangerous blow ; and in a few days, there was 
so powerful a reaction among the wealthy classes, that all 
the results of the fraud were sifted out, for the sake of 
the public welfare. Before this, I had written to my 
former employer, with whom I was willing to have a per- 
sonal interview only in case of absolute necessity, and 
had pointed out to him that I knew of his complicity in 
Graham’s guilt, through the numbers under which my 
father had bought his bonds — -numbers which I had my- 
self entered into the copying-book, as sold for the second 
time ; and I demanded an immediate restitution for my 
father, if I was not to give information of the circum- 
stances to th^ committee of examination. I received an 
order on his Frankfurt agent, for the return of the papers, 
which had been incorrectly issued through an oversight, 
and for the refunding of the amount — but not a word 
from him besides. 

“Graham’s property, which according to the marriage 
contract, was to come to Jessy at his death, had now be- 
come free ; but before it was quite arranged, Jessy called 
me back. She wanted, as she wrote, to go with me, away 
from America, and she wished to hear nothing of what 
Graham had left. But before I reached her, her tempo- 
rary protectors, to whom she had given full confidence, 
had brought her to another mind. She made over the 
whole property to me, ‘as an acknowledgment of the 
many services that I had rendered her/ and if I was 
unwilling to let it fall into strange hands, I had nothing 
to do but to receive it. I only gave myself time to make 
the necessary arrangements ; then, before the altar she 
became my wife, and on the next day we sailed for 
Europe.” 


236 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


“ And about the poor little girl, that you repulsed so 
coldly — Carry, as you called her — have you heard any- 
thing more about her ? ” asked Romer, after a pause. 

Hugo looked with a smile into the ruby contents of his 
glass. “ She is not unhappy, even though the vanishing 
of her first illusions may have cost some tears,” he re- 
plied. “ Jessy wrote to her and to her mother, from 
Philadelphia, and took leave of them both, giving an 
account of that which had closed her father’s house to her 
forever ; at the same time she intimated her future union 
with me. An answer came, back from Carry ; a full ex- 
pression of her warm, loving heart. She blessed Jessy, 
that she was to make me happy ; on my first meeting 
with Mrs. Graham at the farm, she had guessed my feel- 
ing for her, and she told her sister that this very unfor- 
tunate love had wakened in her a strong interest for me, 
though it might, indeed, have happened without this 
cause ; that when Winter made his business plans wdth 
me, it seemed to her that she must make amends for what 
I had lost in Jessy, and that she now consoled herself 
with the reflection that I had attained my own best hap- 
piness. And, at any rate, she consoled herself pretty 
quickly, for, just before our departure from Philadelphia, 
we heard that Winter had closed his business, and gone, 
with his family and old Henderson, to New York; and 
that Carry promised, according to all appearances, to 
play a conspicuous part in society there. This news re- 
minded me that I had missed taking leave of Henderson ; 
but Jessy was right, it was better so, the peace of his old 
, age must have been destroyed, if his trust in his employer 
had been shaken by my explanations.” 

“ And itow, you happy man, where is your wife?” cried 
his friend, looking up, “ why have n’t you brought her 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


237 


here, to take her, at the right time, to your grandmother 
and sisters ? ” 

Hugo shook his head, and an anxious look came on 
his brow. “ Do I know how everything will go here?” he 
answered. “ I tell you that I am just beginning to real- 
ize the daring game that I have undertaken with regard 
to my father. If he misunderstands the feeling, which 
has taken these money affairs as a pretext to gain me an 
entrance into my father’s house ; if he feels himself in- 
jured by the farce that presents me to him as the holder 
of his bills of exchange, and if he conducts me to the 
door with cold courtesy when the business is done — and 
he is capable of it ! I shall have lost more than ever. 
But this is certain, Fritz, that I can explain his decided 
objection to you only by your friendship for me — it 
would be so unnatural otherwise ; and that, if fortune 
should give me once more my old place in the family, I 
would never take it unless entire justice were done to 
you. Y ou need n’t speak,” he added, interrupting a 
movement of Homer, “ I only say what is irrevocably 
fixed in me, for your sake and Helen’s. So you see that 
it is too soon to introduce my wife. She is staying till 
further arrangements can be made, with her school friend, 
the daughter of the American ambassador in Berlin.” 

Rbmer emptied his glass hastily, and passed his hand 
through his hair. “ And if all goes happily,” he began 
at last, “ will you only play the rich man, and pursue 
the natural sciences, and the like?” 

The other shook his head, laughing. “ If all should 
go happily, Fritz,” he answered, “ my father shall have 
a son who will live so as to satisfy him. I made, for 
three weeks, an attempt to become a merchant, and only 
then discovered how the profession to which one gives 


238 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


himself in his youth, goes into his flesh and blood. When 
I had assured myself, at Hamburg, through the Amer- 
ican minister, that no accusations were impending over 
me in Berlin, my first mission there was to my former 
principals, from which I have received a hope that my 
restoration to my previous position can be arranged. If 
this occurs, Fritz, I shall seek my ambition in what- 
ever my early calling may offer, and Jessy will take care 
that I shall not need, as recreation, the pursuits in which 
I should never, at any rate, have obtained great pro- 
ficiency. But, at the same time, I shall try to show that 
I am something more than ‘the husband of my wife/ 
God grant, Fritz, that everything may come to a good 
end!” 

“ God grant it ! ” repeated Romer, taking his friend’s 
hands in an earnest clasp. 

At ten o’clock the next morning, Mangold went, with a 
wonderful knitting of his bushy eyebrows, into the coun- 
sellor’s room ; he tried twice, in vain, to speak ; at last, 
controlling every feature into rigidity, he announced: 
" The agent from Frankfurt wishes to introduce himself.” 

Zedwitz looked up quietly from his desk, and nodded. 
" Let him come in,” he said, opening a little safe, and 
taking out a number of packets of treasury bills. He 
could not restrain a sigh that came involuntarily from 
his breast, and on his brow there seemed to weigh his for- 
mer thought : u redeeming one sin by another.” 

As the door opened again, he rose, and walked to the 
table in the middle of the room ; but in the next instant 
the color left his face, and his features took an expression 
of hardness — he had recognized his son, who was stand- 
ing at the entrance, in uncertainty. 

“ I am here as agent for you, father,” he began, after a 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


239 


short pause, his voice trembling, notwithstanding his evi- 
dent struggle to control it ; “I bring you your bills of 
exchange, and have only to receive the depreciated paper 
instead. As it became possible for me to arrange my 
affairs soon after Heinrich’s letter was sent, I hastened my 
journey to Europe, to relieve you from your anxiety as 
soon as might be.” He took his pocket-book, drew out 
the counsellor’s papers, and stepping forward, laid them 
on the table. 

Zedwitz had not stirred, and Hugo’s movement seemed 
first to make him capable of motion. He turned, as if 
mechanically, to the safe in which his money was, took 
out the obligations, and laid them by his own bills of ex- 
change, with a vacant air. Hugo pushed the bills away 
and crushed the bonds in his hands, without noticing 
them ; then he slowly raised his eyes, and looked into the 
immovable face of the old man. “ Am I to go away 
again, father ? ” he asked, and in his tone there was a 
sound of repressed emotion. Zedwitz stood still, and 
only in the corners of his mouth a slight nervous tremor 
became visible. “ However I have sinned, father,” con- 
tinued Hugo, the tears coming to his eyes, “it was against 
the wishes of my heart, and whatever harm my thought- 
less flight has done, I am in a condition to make good — 
I have just come from my principal’s in Berlin, father” — 
his voice failed him ; but now, in the counsellor’s face 
some restrained feeling seemed to be breaking through, 
the quivering around his mouth grew stronger, in his eyes 
a gentler light began to shine. “Father! ” cried Hugo, 
grasping the old man’s hand, and no longer controlling 
his tears ; but Zedwitz appeared, with a single effort, to 
have regained his outward composure, though his face 
was irradiated as if with sunlight. “ Come ! ” he said, 


240 


TWO HEMISPHERES* 


taking the young man’s arm, and leading him out of the 
. cabinet. 

They took, in silence, the way to the grandmother’s 
room ; the first look through the open door into the in- 
tent faces assembled there, showed that Hugo’s arrival 
was known. 

“Here he is! ” said the counsellor, going in; “he has 
kept his word, and come back to make all right,” and as 
if released by his words, both sisters joyfully rose. But 
as Hugo, clasped in their arms, hastened to the old lady, 
who stretched out her hands to him, Zedwitz turned to 
Messner, who had stepped aside. “Take your money 
again, my friend, he has saved it, and mine,” he said, and 
as if unwilling to show the expression of his face, he 
turned away. 

Hugo soon withdrew himself from the embraces and 
questions of the women, and turned again to the coun- 
sellor. 

“ If I am to receive full absolution, father, my conscience 
urges me first to a confession,” he said, and his father 
came toward him with a still clouded brdw. But the 
happy look on Hugo’s face seemed to relieve him from 
some undefined anxiety. “I must acknowledge, at once, 
the cause that took me to America, as it has been so mys- 
terious,” continued the young man. “ It was not the fear of 
a trial, father, for I had determined on returning to Berlin 
— it was a deep passion for a young, well-born lady, whom 
I had met in Switzerland with her friends, and for whose 
sake alone, my unlucky encounter with the Russian took 
place. When I left Berlin, she sent me, by a third hand, 
an intimation of her home as a refuge ; she was an Amer- 
ican, of a rich family, and — all explanations later, father 
— she is now my wife.” 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


241 


Though the last unexpected word seemed to act upon 
the women like an electric shock, their surprise mani- 
fested itself only by a quick, anxious glance at the master 
of the house ; but he simply opened his eyes wider, and 
appeared to be following a newly arisen thought. 

“ And had the property of this young lady anything to 
do with the restoration of my money ? ” he asked after a 
pause, his brow knitting again. 

“ Nothing, nothing, father, except by the associations 
which I gained through her ! ” cried Hugo, eagerly ; “ the 
culprit alone managed that you should be uninjured, as 
I can prove to you!” 

“ So ! ” said the counsellor after another pause. “And 
in spite of this altered position, which I suppose is se- 
cured for you, will you enter again upon your previous 
career ? ” 

• “ I declared to my friend Komer, yesterday,” said Hugo 
heartily, taking his father’s hand, “that for everything 
that may have seemed a failure in the past, my future shall 
make you full satisfaction — you shall not have to wait 
long for my next examination ! ” 

Over the counsellor’s face, a full, joyful contentment 
spread for the first time. “ Then I will make no opposi- 
tion to this last affair, and you must answer for it to 
your grandmother and sisters ! ” he said, and the young 
man found himself again in the arms of the girls, who 
relieved their astonishment by cross-questioning him. 

“ But, in the name of goodness, an American ! ” cried 
the old lady in a tone of comic complaint ; “ then one 
can never talk with her ! ” 

“O, she is learning German already,” answered Hugo, 
with a happy look, seizing the speaker’s hand, “and I 
21 Q 


242 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


know that you will love her as your own grandchild, dear 
grandmother ! ” 

“And now is the confession finished ? ” asked Zedwitz 
almost humorously. 

Hugo turned to the questioner, and a tender earnest- 
ness came into his face. “ Still a single word, father, if 
I am to be entirely at rest! ” he said entreatingly. “I 
have mentioned Komer — have you any definite reproach 
to bring against him, that ought to close your house to 
him?” 

A cloud passed suddenly over the brow of the master 
of the house ; he bent his head, and began to walk across 
the room ; but at that moment the grandmother rose with 
the energy of youth. “Stop, dear Zedwitz,” she said, 
laying her hand on his arm; “this is an hour sent by 
God for blessing and reconciliation, from which we should, 
with cold hearts, shut out no one. And perhaps there is 
more involved than you know, yourself. Come here, 
Hugo, and let me introduce you to our friend, the govern- 
ment-counsellor Messner, which ought at any rate to 
have been done;” she turned to her grandson, while 
Messner, who had been observing the family scene from 
a corner, rose in surprise ; “ here is your sister Marie, and 
if I tell you that you have to-day, unconsciously, made a 
•happy pair of them, as they will now no longer delay to 
reveal to your father, you may believe your grandmother, 
who is in the secret ! ” 

Marie had risen in alarm, and had hidden her face 
burning with blushes, on the speaker’s shoulder, while 
Messner held out his hand to the young man in evident 
emotion, saying : “ I have not yet been permitted to thank 
you ! ” the counsellor, meanwhile, looked now at his friend, 
now at the girl in her grandmother’s arms, and a sudden 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


243 


comprehension seemed to arise in him ; then he looked 
thoughtfully towards Helen, who was watching with pain- 
ful intentness every change in his features. “ There seems 
to have been considerable activity on all hands,” he began 
at last. “You had carte blanche from me,” he said, 
turning to Messner, “so there is nothing more to say; for 
the rest, my good mother may be right,” he continued, 
with some agitation in his voice, “ I will not be thank- 
less to-day, so bring your friend, Hugo, if it suits you — ! ” 

Helen had sprung up with an inarticulate cry, at his 
last words, and thrown herself on his neck, cutting off 
the rest of his speech ; then Marie embraced him, while 
the grandmother grasped his hand with an expression of 
happiness that made her look ten years younger. Hugo 
found himself suddenly alone, and moved by a hasty 
thought, he turned toward the door, where the face of 
old Mangold, whose entrance no one had noticed, was 
looking in, with the tears slowly rolling down it. “ So 
everything is well, Herr referendary,” said the old man ; 
“ but how is it with my Heinrich ? ” 

“He is in the right place, and will make his way, 
where we men of the pen would run aground,” an- 
swered the young man, shaking the old man’s hand. 
“You will hear the details from him — but now, Mangold, 
help me to make the day complete ; go to Romer, and 
tell him that he must appear here at dinner — say only, 
that everything is arranged.” 

A few years have passed since the events related here, 
for the knowledge of which the author is indebted to one 
of the persons most interested ; /md it is only permitted 
to him to add a brief conclusion. 

Among those circles in Berlin, to which the Americans 


244 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


residing there most gladly gain admittance, the chief 
favorite is that of one of their young country-women, who 
knows how to mingle with peculiar tact the German and 
the transatlantic tone, to unite the elegant independence 
of the American woman, with the abounding nature of 
the German. Foreign and native representatives of sci- 
entific and literary culture form a large part of the as- 
semblies, and find a second centre in the amiable and 
intelligent sister-in-law of the hostess. 

In the last, we see Jessy, who has quite destroyed 
Hugo’s fears that homesickness would trouble their 
common happiness ; by means of her modest wealth, she 
enjoys every year a journey of some weeks with her hus- 
band and family. Hugo is expecting his appointment as 
counsellor of justice. 

In the second lady we meet Marie, whose husband has 
entered the sacred ministry, and who clings to her new 
sister with ever increasing affection. 

The Counsellor is still in his- old place, but a wonderful 
change seems to have come over his character — it is 
growing too lonely for him, notwithstanding the frequent 
visits of his children, especially as the grandmother de- 
votes herself, during most of her time, to her “ nestling,” 
Romer’s happy wife, and her two little children ; he has 
a strong idea of getting a pension, and moving with old 
Mangold to Berlin, the scene of their early days, to be 
with the rest of his children and grand-children. 

Heinrich lives in Cincinnati ; by the aid of a small 
capital, given him by his old comrade, he has become 
partner in a furniture store. Hugo and Romer have 
been invited to the baptism of the third “genuine 
Thuringian ! ” He would gladly send for his old father 


TWO HEMISPHERES. 


245 


to join him, but the latter feels that he cannot, under 
any circumstances, consent to leave Germany. 

From Carry but one piece of news has been received, 
telling of her marriage to a Boston merchant; Jessy’s 
letter of congratulation is yet unanswered, but she has 
found long ago, without regret, that in Hugo she has 
chosen her “ one and only home.” 

Sometimes, when an organ goes through the streets of 
Berlin at night, and the tones sound upward into the 
room of a young man, who is still brooding over law- 
papers : 

“ How can it ever be 
That I can part from thee?” 


all these early scenes arise within him, banishing every 
thought of the “case” before him, and he murmurs, fol- 
lowing the melody : 

“That thou hast all my heart, 

Dearest, believe,* 

Thou too hast gained my soul; 

So full is thy control, 

That I no other love 
Than thee alone ! ” 

21 * 


THE END. 





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